Technology is playing an increasing role in society. As technologies advance, they are quickly penetrating more into the daily life of ordinary people as well as into human expert domains. As technologies are used in our cognitive processes, as they cognitize with us and for us, they influence and impact the very way we acquire information and think, and affect the very nature of cognition. Such technologies can be characterised and termed as Cognitive Technologies.
As technologies advance and infiltrate human cognitive abilities that were once solely the domain of human experts, we need to consider the advantages as well as the potential pitfalls of using technology in these expert domains. The need for using technology is clear, but its role and interaction with human experts (and its implications) have been relatively neglected. Such an examination is critically needed in order to understand which roles are best left for humans (if any), and what is the optimal way to integrate the technologies; thus optimising the development and usage of such technologies. Thus it is important to consider carefully issues pertaining to Technology and Human Expertise as well as how humans should affect the development of technology.
Issues of technology interact with many aspects of human cognition, such as pattern recognition, mental representations, decision making, expertise, and knowledge acquisition. These areas all converge together in many applied domain, e.g., e-learning and biometrics.
A wide range of issues pertaining to technology and cognition will be covered in a series of special issues devoted to Cognition & Technology as part of the journal Pragmatics & Cognition. These Special Issues will be edited by Itiel Dror, who has been appointed P&C’s Associate Editor for Cognition & Technology.
Email: id@ecs.soton.ac.uk
See link to Training
See link to Biometric Identification
Below, see details on new book.
Selected related publications:
Dror, I. E. & Harnad, S. (in press). Offloading
cognition onto cognitive technology. In Itiel E. Dror & Stevan Harnad
(eds.), Distributed Cognition: How
Cognitive Technology Extends Our Minds. John Benjamins,
Engelbrecht, P.
& Dror,
Dror, I.E. (2007). Land
mines and gold mines in cognitive technologies. In
Dror, I.E.
(2008). Technology’s
role in learning: Possibilities and pitfalls. Keynote Speaker at Rethinking the digital divide, the 15th
International Conference of the Association of Learning
Technologies.
Dror, I.E.
(2008). Merging technology and cogniton: Imroving human performance and
decision making. Windows of Science,
US Air Force Reseach Laboratory. Texas.
Dror,
Dror, I.E. (2008). Fitting learning to human cognition. Keynote Speaker at the Policing Learning
Technologies Conference.
Engelbrecht, P. C & Dror, I.E.
(2008). How psychology and cognition can inform the creation of
ontologies in semantic technologies. 18th
European-Japanese Conference on Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases
(EJC2008),
Dror, I.E.
(2008). Designing e-learning?
Don't leave your brain at home! Keynote Speaker at Learning Technologies
conference.
Dror, I. E. (Ed.) (in press). Learning Technologies and Cognition. John Benjamin Press.
Dror, I.E.
(2007). Exploiting the opportunities and avoiding the pitfalls of
games technology: The cognitive perspective. Using games technology and methodology to improve training &
education - the opportunities and the issues, ETSA (European Training and
Simulation Association) symposium.
Dror, I.E. (2006). Don’t
forget us humans! The Times, 31
July 2006.
Dror, I.E. (2007). Visual analytics in mirror of the
architecture of cognition: Gold mines and land mines. “Through the
looking glass” Visual Analytics for Consumer Understanding. Stratford Upon Avon..
Dror, I.E. (2006). A
holistic-cognitive approach for success in technology. Biometric Technology Today, 14 (5), 7-8.
Dror, I.E. &
Dror, I.E. (2006). Cognitive Science Serving Security: Assuring useable and
efficient biometric and technological solutions. Aviation Security International, 12 (3), 21-28. [abstract]
Dror, I.E.
(2007). Exploiting the opportunities and avoiding the pitfalls of
games technology: The cognitive perspective. ETSA symposium: Using games technology and methodology to improve
training & education - the opportunities and the issues.
Dror, I.E. (2005). Cognitive Technologies and the Pragmatics of Cognition.
Special Issue edited by Itiel Dror. John Benjamins Publishing.
Dror, I.E. & Shaikh,
A. (2005). Training for expertise in face recognition and working with
face recognition technology (TNA).
Dror, I.E. (in press). Shall I Remember?
How learning technologies should facilitate, but too often hinder, memory.
Learning Light, The Science of Learning.
Dror,
Harnad, S. & Dror, I.E. (2006). Distributed Cognition. Pragmatics
& Cognition, 14 (2), 209-123.
Dror, I.E. (2005). Technology and human expertise: Some do’s and
don’ts. Biometric Technology
Today, 13 (9), 7-9.
Dror, I.E. & Shaikh, A. (2005). Face
recognition technology: Cognitive considerations in system design.
Dascal, M. & Dror,
Harnad, S. & Dror, I.E. (in
press). Distributed Cognition. Special Issue edited by Stevan Harnad &
Itiel Dror. John Benjamins Publishing.
Dror, I.E. & Charlton, D. (2006). Why
experts make errors. Journal of Forensic Identification, 56
(4), 600-616. [abstract]
New book:
Cognitive
Technologies and the pragmatics of Cognition
Book description: Technology has long been a helpful aid in human cognitive activities. With its growing sophistication and usage technology is now taking a more intrinsic and active role in human cognition. The shift from an external aid to being an internal component of cognitive processing reflects a revolution in technology, cognition, and their interaction. The creation of such ‘cognitive technologies’ transforms the traditional instrumental function of technology to a constitutive role that shapes and defines cognition itself. This book explores the new horizon of these ‘cognitive technologies’ and their interactions with humans.
“This
book is a stimulating sampler of an extraordinarily important emerging field.
This field will have profound effects not only on how we humans think, feel and
behave - but also on what we humans are. Technology can no longer be considered
simply a product of human endeavor or a subject of study, but must be understood
as providing a context within which we live and function. The chapters herein
are of interest to psychologists, computer scientists, neuroscientists and
philosophers, and cannot help but open eyes to new possibilities and new
realities.”
Professor Stephen M. Kosslyn, Head of Psychology,
“It used to be clear that human cognition was
one thing and that technology was another. But in our cyber-era of global
networks, multimedia, robots and tools that extend the powers of our eyes,
hands and brains it is becoming clear that cognition and technology are much
more profoundly interconnected and interactive than we had thought: The demands
of our evolutionary past shaped our brains and our cognitive capacities, but
now the "tools" we create with those cognitive capacities are drawing
upon and unleashing cognitive capacities we did not even know we had. The
boundary between what our brains are doing and what our brain-made technology
is doing is dissolving. This volume explores this new hybrid, symbiotic world,
with chapters by many of its front-line contributors.”
Professor Wendy Hall, Head of Electronics and Computer Science,
“This book explores the ways in which cognitive
technologies not only assist humans in their cognitive tasks, but actually
become part and parcel of our cognitive activity. Does this intimate
relationship bring about significant changes in the scope and nature of human
cognition? is the question raised in the book. The philosophical and historical
significance of an exploration of this issue in the light of the most recent
technological developments is immense; for it addresses, ultimately, the
central epistemological question of how our knowing capacity can be improved
(or hampered) by the tools our knowing capacity itself develops. For the first
time, technology is here envisaged not as a peripheral tool vis-à-vis
cognition, but as touching its very kernel.”
Professor Marcelo Dascal, Department of Philosophy,
For more details and to order see:
Cognitive Technologies and the pragmatics of Cognition or just go to Amazon (for US Amazon or for UK Amazon)
Dr Itiel Dror
School of Psychology
University of Southampton
Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ
England, United Kingdom
Office: +44 (0)23 80594519
Fax: +44 (0)23 80594518
Lab: +44 (0)23 80594598
Email: id@ecs.soton.ac.uk
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