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3.4 Conceptual frameworks for cognition 97

pw,," = 7 15-91 chunks
6, r 7 15-2261 sec

Eye movement = 230 170-7001 msec

Figure 3.1 2 The human proces-
sor model.

Several researchers have argued that existing information processing ap-
proaches are too impoverished:

The traditional approach to the study of cognition is to look at the pure intellect, isolated
from distractions and from artificial aids. Experiments are performed in closed, isolated
rooms, with a minimum of distracting lights or sounds, no other people to assist with the
task, and no aids to memory or thought. The tasks are arbitrary ones, invented by the
researcher. Model builders build simulations and descriptions of these isolated situations.
The theoretical analyses are self-contained little structures, isolated from the world,
isolated from any other knowledge or abilities ofthe person. (Norman, 1990, p. 5)
Instead, there has been an increasing trend to study cognitive activities in the
context in which they occur, analyzing cognition as it happens "in the wild"