Cognitive task transformations

Abstract

The difficulty facing an agent performing a familiar task is one of satisfactory performance rather than one of figuring out how the task is to be performed. In this paper I describe and exemplify a number of principal ways in which the physical form of tools and working environments can reduce the cognitive burden of performing routine tasks. Starting from the commonly held assumption that tools transform the structure of the tasks in which they figure, I explore some basic ways in which tools can reshape tasks to circumvent excessive demands on attention, working memory and motor control, and the need to perform the kinds of cognitive operations at which we lack proficiency. The principal task transformations that are identified include: removing superfluous actions; delegating problematic parts of a task to other people or artefacts; substituting less demanding parts of a task for parts that are cognitively difficult; rearranging a task to avoid conflict between actions; and increasing the tolerance of a task environment to sub-optimal task performance. For each transformation an account is given of the change to the task from the perspective of an agent and how this improves the cognitive congeniality of the task. For each transformation I also give an example drawn from the everyday experience of the reader of a particular tool that may be said to bring about or facilitate the transformation in question, and explain in what way the tool is able to achieve the transformation whilst still ensuring that task demands are met.