Cognitive Science: An Introduction/Situated Cognition

=Situated Cognition= Situated cognition holds that cognitive processes are deeply influenced by context and the physical and cultural environment in which they are used. In this sense, situated knowledge results from the cultural activity in which the knowledge was developed and applied.

Rather than knowledge being considered the accumulation of factual units, situated learning is viewed as the improvement of performance across contextual situations. Relevant to this view of cognition and knowledge is the notion of “cognitive apprenticeship.” This idea holds that optimal learning occurs through mentorship in way that directs knowledge toward applicable situations. This is considered by many to be the main method by which humans evolved to learn, that is, a cultural transmission through direct personal mentorship.

Relation to Embodied Cognition
Cognitive processes that are situated are context-sensitive, vary with time, action-oriented, and embodied. The effectiveness of cognitive processes profoundly depend on the extent to which a individual interacts appropriately with their contextual, physical, and social settings. This view is closely related to those held by embodied cognition, in which aspects of cognition are interconnected with properties outside the brain. These processes are properly understood as being engaged in a physical or mental task that is contextually, physically, and/or culturally situated.

Embodied human and animal cognition is attuned to be responsive to feedback from the environment in which they pursue their goals. Shattuck and Miller (2006) wrote that “perceptual-motor feedback processes effectively relate animal cognition to the environment and action in a way that a mechanism based on logical (descriptive) inference alone does not capture.” This view holds that learning and expertise are only meaningful if viewed as the skillful application of knowledge in a situated environment.