12 - Exploring Cognition in Interactive Situations: The Aging of N+1 Minds

Abstract

This chapter focuses on exploring cognition in interactive situations. Social cognitive aging may be examined in multiple domains of performance as indicated by multiple tasks, ranging from cognitive tasks administered or per-formed in social situations to social cognitive tasks administered and performed in individual laboratory situations. Both the products and processes are important in evaluating the extent of collaborative benefits and in evaluating social cognitive competence. The individual is not lost in social cognitive research, just as the unit of analysis is not replaced in collaborative cognition research. Social cognitive competence may be evaluated in both individual and interactive contexts. Collaborative competence must be evaluated in interactive contexts, but individually produced phenomena are relevant, as are various comparisons of group-level to individual-level performance. The earlier research indicates that interaction patterns—or process indicators—are of crucial importance to understanding the productivity and efficiency of collaborating groups. The chapter focuses on several interesting possibilities for future research that could merge even more closely the growing social cognitive emphasis and the inchoate collaborative cognition program.