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Cognitive tools shape thought: diagrams in design

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Abstract

Thinking often entails interacting with cognitive tools. In many cases, notably design, the predominant tool is the page. The page allows externalizing, organizing, and reorganizing thought. Yet, the page has its own properties that by expressing thought affect it: path, proximity, place, and permanence. The effects of these properties were evident in designs of information systems created by students Paths were interpreted as routes through components. Proximity was used to group subsystems. Horizontal position on the page was used to express temporal sequence and vertical position to reflect real-world spatial position. The permanence of designs on the page guided but also constrained generation of alternative designs. Cognitive tools both reflect and affect thought.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by awards IIS-0725223, HHC-0905417, IIS-0855995, and IIS-0968561 from the National Science Foundation, and by the Stanford Regional Visualization and Analysis Center.

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Author notes

  1. Doris Zahner

    Present address: Council for Aid to Education, 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, USA

  2. Yun-Jin Rho

    Present address: Pearson Education, 75 Arlington Street, Boston, MA, 02116, USA

  3. Lixiu Yu

    Present address: Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Decision Technologies, Stevens Institute of Technology, 1 Castle Point on Hudson, Hoboken, NJ, 07030, USA

    Jeffrey V. Nickerson, Doris Zahner & Lixiu Yu

  2. Department of Human Development, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA

    James E. Corter, Barbara Tversky & Yun-Jin Rho

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  1. Jeffrey V. Nickerson
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  2. James E. Corter
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Correspondence to Jeffrey V. Nickerson.

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Nickerson, J.V., Corter, J.E., Tversky, B. et al. Cognitive tools shape thought: diagrams in design. Cogn Process 14, 255–272 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-013-0547-3

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