Adaptively distributing cognition: a decision-making perspective on human-computer interaction

Two important phenomena in human - computer interaction (HCI) are considered: the reliance on external information rather than memory, and the interleaving of planning and action. These phenomena are important, it is argued, because they challenge some particular cognitive models. However, we reject those views, influential in the HCI literature, that phenomena like these require radically new conceptions of cognition or behaviour. It is shown that the phenomena are not universal laws of behaviour, but that instead people decide how much to remember and how much to plan according to a consideration of the costs and benefits of different strategies. Thus the classical cognitive conception of humans as adaptive decision makers is vital for a deep understanding of HCI.