Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Cockpit cognition: Education, the military and cognitive engineering

  • Published:
AI & SOCIETY Aims and scope Submit manuscript

“Our final hope is to develop the brain as a natural resource ... Human intelligence will be the weapon of the future.”

Luis Alberto Machado

Abstract

The goals of public education, as well as conceptions of human intelligence and learning, are undergoing a transformation through the application of military-sponsored information technologies and information processing models of human thought. Recent emphases in education on thinking skills, learning strategies, and computer-based technologies are the latest episodes in the postwar military agenda to engineer intelligent components, human and artificial, for the optimal performance of complex technological systems. Public education serves increasingly as a “human factors” laboratory and production site for this military enterprise, whose high performance technologies and command and control paradigms have also played central roles in the emergence of the information economy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson, C. L. (1986). Where did we go wrong? An analysis of the way ISD was mustered out of the Army, paper presented at AERA annual convention, San Francisco. ED 270 632.

  • Baum, C. (1982).The System Builders: The Story of SDC. System Development Corp., Santa Monica, California.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell, D. (1967). The post-industrial society; A speculative view. In E. Hutchings,Scientific Progress and Human Values. American Elsevier, New York, p. 154–170.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell, D. (1981). The social framework of the information society. In T. Forester (ed.)The Microelectronics Revolution. The MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellin, D. and Chapman, G. (eds.) (1987).Computers in Battle: Will They Work? Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Belmont, J. M. and Butterfield, E. C. (1977). ‘The instructional approach to developmental cognitive research’. In R. V. Kail and J. W. Hagen,Perspectives on the Development of Memory and Cognition. Erlbaum, New York, pp. 430–450.

    Google Scholar 

  • Binkin, M. (1986).Military Technology and Defense Manpower. The Brookings Institution, Washington, D. C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blaschke, C. L. (1967). The DOD: catalyst in educational technology.Phi Delta Kappan, 48 (5), 204–214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, A. (1987). Metacognition, executive control, self-regulation, and other more mysterious mechanisms. In F. E. Weinert and R. H. Kluwe (eds.)Metacognition, Motivation, and Understanding. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N. J., pp. 65–140.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, J. S., Collins, A., and Harris, G. (1978). Artificial intelligence and learning strategies. In H. F. O'Neil, Jr (ed.),Learning Strategies. Academic Press, New York, pp. 107–139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, J. S. (1983).In Search of Mind. Harper and Row, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, J. S. (1985). On teaching thinking. In S. F. Chipmanet al. (eds.)Thinking and Learning Skills. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, pp. 590–599.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy (1986).A Nation Prepared: Teachers for the 21st Century. Carnegie Forum, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapman, R. L. and Kennedy, J. L. (1956). The background and implications of the systems research laboratory studies. In G. Finch and F. Cameron (eds.)Air Force Human Engineering, Personnel and Training Research. National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council, pp. 65–73.

  • Costa, A. L. (1984). ‘Mediating the metacognitive.Educational Leadership, 42 (3), 56–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dansereau, D. (1978). The development of a learning strategies curriculum. In H. F. O'Neil, Jr,Learning Strategies. Academic Press, New York, pp. 1–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Datamation (1984). DARPA's big push in AI.Datamation, 30 (2), 50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, D. B. (1985). Assessing the strategic computing initiative.High Technology, 5 (4), 41–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, R.et al. (1965). Potential implementation. In M. A. Sass and W. D. Wilkinson (eds.)Computer Augmentation of Human Reasoning. Spartan Books, Washington, D.C., pp. 151–187.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dickson, D. (1984).The New Politics of Science. Pantheon, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • DiVesta, F. J. and Rieber, L. P. (1987). Characteristics of cognitive engineering: the next generation of instructional systems.ECTJ, 35 (4), 213–230.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dreyfus, H. L. and Dreyfus, S. E. (1986).Mind Over Machine. The Free Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dudley-Marling, C. and Owston, R. D. (1988). Using microcomputers to teach problem solving: a critical review.Educational Technology, 28 (7), 27–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, P. N. (1985).Technologies of the Mind: Silicon Valley Research Group Working Paper 2. Santa Cruz: University of California, Santa Cruz.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, J. A. (ed.) (1986).Military Contributions to Instructional Technology. Praeger, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans, D. (1986). Losing battle: the army and the underclass.The New Republic, 194 (26), 10–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fano, R. M. (1965). The MAC system: a progress report. In M. A. Sass and W. D. Wilkinson (eds.)Computer Augmentation of Human Reasoning. Spartan Books, Washington, D.C., pp. 131–149.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flavell, J. H. (1977)Cognitive Development. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flavell, J. H. (1987). Speculation about the nature and development of metacognition. In F. E. Weinert and R. H. Kluwe (eds.),Metacognition, Motivation, and Understanding. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N. J., pp. 21–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greeno, J. (1985). Looking across the river: views from the two banks of research and development in problem solving. In S. F. Chipman, J. W. Segal, and R. Glaser (eds.)Thinking and Learning Skills, vol. 2, pp. 209–214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gropper, G. L. (1980). Is instructional technology dead?Educational Technology, 20 (1), 39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halff, H. M., Hollan, J. D., and Hutchins, E. L., (1986). Cognitive science and military training.American Psychologist, 41 (10), 1131–1138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hitchens, H. B. (1971). Instructional technology in the armed forces. In S. G. Tickton (ed.)To Improve Learning: An Evaluation of Instructional Technology. R. R. Bowker, New York, pp. 701–721.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoos, I. R. (1972).Systems Analysis in Public Policy: A Critique. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hounshell, D. A. (1984).From the American System to Mass Production, 1800–1932. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keating, D. P. (1984). The emperor's new clothes: the ‘new look’ in intelligence research. In R. J. Sternberg,Advances in the Psychology of Human Intelligence. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N.J., pp. 1–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kemeny, J. G. (1972).Man and the Computer. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, J. L. (1962). Psychology and systems development, in R. M. Gagne, (ed.)Psychological Principles in System Development. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, pp. 13–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klahr, D. (1976) Designing a learner: some questions. In D. Klahr (ed.)Cognition and Instruction: Tenth Annual Carnegie Symposium on Cognition. Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Via, pp. 325–332.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klahr, D. and Carver, S. M. (1980). Cognitive objectives in a LOGO debugging curriculum: instruction, learning, and transfer.Cognitive Psychology, 20, 362–404.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein, E. I. (ed.) (1985)Children and Computers. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knapp, T. J. (1986). The emergence of cognitive psychology in the latter half of the twentieth century. In T. J. Knapp and L. C. Robertson (eds.)Approaches to Cognition: Contrasts and Controversies. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N.J., pp. 13–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kozma, R. B. (1987). The implications of cognitive psychology for computer-based learning tools.Educational Technology, 27 (11), 20–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lachman, R.et al. (1979).Cognitive Psychology and Information Processing: An Introduction. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N.J.

    Google Scholar 

  • Landa, L. N. (1976).Instructional Regulation and Control (F. Kopstein, ed.). Educational Technology Publications, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langley, P. and Simon, H. A. (1981). The central role of learning in cognition. In J. R. Anderson (ed.)Cognitive Skills and Their Acquisition. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N.J., pp. 361–380.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lens, S. (1987).Permanent War: The Militarization of America. Schocken Books, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leron, U. (1985). Logo today: vision and reality.The Computing Teacher, February, 26–32.

  • Licklider, J. C. R. (1960). Man-computer symbiosis.IRE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics, HFE-1 (March), 4–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Licklider, J. C. R. (1982). National goals for computer literacy. In R. J. Seidelet al. (eds.)Computer Literacy: Issues and Directions for 1985. Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lochhead, J. and Clement, J. (1979).Cognitive Process Instruction. Franklin Institute Press, Philadelphia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loughary, J. W. (1970). Teaching technology. In A. C. Eurich, (ed.)High School 1980. Pitman Publishers, New York, pp. 240–251.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lumsdaine, A. A. and Glaser, R. (1960)Teaching Machines and Programmed Learning. NEA, Washington, D. C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Machado, L. A. (1981) ‘Elite babies: the weapon of the future,The Times (London), 30 August, no page. Cited in J. Crouse and D. Trusheim (1988)The Case Against the SAT. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, p. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCorduck, P. (1979)Machines Who Think. W. H. Freeman, San Francisco.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCoy, T. W. (1986) New ways to train.Air Force Magazine, 69 (12), 55–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Melman, S. (1985).The Permanent War Economy. Simon and Schuster, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Melton, A. W. (1959). The science of learning and the technology of educational methods.Harvard Education Review, 29 (2), 97–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, G. A., Galanter, E., and Pribram, K. H. (1960).Plans and the Structure of Behavior. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills, C. W. (1959).The Power Elite. Oxford University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moravec, H. (1988).Mind Children. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mumford, L. (1963).Technics and Civilization. Harbinger Books, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neisser, U. (1967).Cognitive Psychology. Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neumann, W. (1979). Educational responses to the concern for proficiency. In G. Grant (ed.)On Competence: a Critical Analysis of Competency-Based Reforms in Higher Education. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, pp. 67–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newell, A. and Simon, H. A. (1972).Human Problem Solving. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newell, A., Shaw, J. C. and Simon, H. A. (1958). Elements of a theory of human problem solving.Psychological Review, 65 (3), 151–166.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nickerson, R. S. (1986). Project Intelligence: an account and some reflections.Special Services in the Schools, 3 (1/2), 83–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nickerson, R., Perkins, D. N. and Smith, E. (1985).The Teaching of Thinking. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N.J.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norman, D. A. (1980). Cognitive engineering and education. In D. T. Tuma and F. Reif (eds.)Problem Solving and Education. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N.J., pp. 81–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norman, D. A. (ed.) (1981).Perspectives and Cognitive Science. Ablex/Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N.J.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norman, D. A. (1987). Cognitive science — cognitive engineering'. In J. M. Carroll (ed.)Interfacing Thought. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp. 325–336.

    Google Scholar 

  • Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) (1982).Informational Technology and Its Impact on American Education. US Government Printing Office. Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olsen, J. R. and Bass, V. B. (1982). The application of performance technology in the military: 1960–1980.NSPI Journal, 21 (6), 32–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Papert, S. (1980).Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas. Basic Books, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pea, R. D. (1985a) Integrating human and computer intelligence. In E. I. Klein (ed.)Children and Computers. New Directions for Child Development, no 28. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, pp. 75–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pea, R. D. (1985b). Beyond amplification: using the computer to reorganize mental functioning.Educational Psychologist, 20 (4), 167–182.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piller, C. and Yamamoto, K. R. (1988).Gene Wars: Military Control Over the New Genetic Technologies. William Morrow, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Popkewitz, T. S.et al.. (1982).The Myth of Education Reform. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Wisconsin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Posner, M. I. (1973). Cognition: natural and artificial. In R. L. Solso (ed.)The Loyola Symposium: Contemporary Issues in Cognitive Psychology. V. H. Winston and Sons, Washington, D. C., pp. 167–175.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pressley, M.et al. (1985). Children's use of cognitive strategies. In M. Pressley and C. J. Brainerd (eds.)Cognitive Learning and Memory in Children. Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 1–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reif, F. (1980). Theoretical and educational concerns with problem solving: bridging the gaps with human cognitive engineering. In D. T. Tuma and F. Reif (eds)Problem Solving and Education. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N.J. pp. 39–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Resnick, L. (1987).Education and Learning to Think. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Resnick, L. (1988/1989). On learning research,Educational Leadership, 46 (4), 12–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Resnick, L. (1983). Toward a cognitive theory of instruction, in S. G. Paris (ed.)Learning and Motivation in the Classroom. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N.J.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rigney, J. W. (1978). Learning Strategies: A Theoretical Perspective. In H. F. O'Neil, Jr (ed.)Learning Strategies. Academic Press, New York, pp. 165–205.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rigney, J. W. and Munro, A. (1981). Learning strategies. In H. F. O'Neil, Jr (ed.)Computer-Based Instruction: A State-of-the-Art Assessment. Academic Press, New York, pp. 127–159.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg, R. (1987) A critical analysis of research on intelligent tutoring systems.Educational Technology, November, 7–13.

  • Rowell, J. T. and Streich, E. R. (1964). The Sage system training program for the Air Defense Command.Human Factors, October, 537–548.

  • Sackman, H. (1967).Computers, System Science, and Evolving Society: The Challenge of Man-Machine Digital Systems. John Wiley, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saettler, P. (1968).A History of Instructional Technology. NEA, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaker, S. M. and Wise, A. R. (1988).War Without Men: Robots on the Future Battlefield. Pergamon-Brassey's, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheil, B. A. (1982). Coping with complexity. In R. A. Kasschau, R. Lachman and K. R. Laughery (eds.)Information Technology and Psychology. Praeger, pp. 77–105.

  • Simon, H. A. (1964). Decision-making as an economic resource. In Seltzer, L. H. (ed.)New Horizons of Economic Progress. Wayne State University Press, Detroit, pp. 81–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, H. A. (1981). ‘Cognitive science: the newest science of the artificial’. In Norman, D. A. (ed.)Perspectives on Cognitive Science. Ablex/Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N.J., pp. 13–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, H. A. (1980). Problem solving and education. In Tuma, D. T. and Reif, F. (eds.)Problem Solving and Education. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N.J., pp. 81–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, H. A. (1983). Why should machines learn? In Michalski, R. S.et al. (eds.)Machine Learning: An Artificial Intelligence Approach. Tioga, Palo Alto, California, pp. 25–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, M. R. (ed.) (1985).Military Enterprise and Technological Change. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snow, R. E.et al. (eds.) (1980).Aptitude, Learning and Instruction, vol. 2. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N.J.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spitz, H. H. (1986).The Raising of Intelligence. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N.J.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sternberg, R. J. (1977).Intelligence, Information Processing and Analogical Reasoning: The Componential Analysis of Human Abilities. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N.J.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sternberg, R. J. and Detterman, D. K. (1982).How and How Much Can Intelligence Be Increased? Ablex, Norwood, N.J.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tessmer, M. and Jonassen, D. (1988). Learning strategies: a new instructional technology. In Harris, D. (ed)Education For the New Technologies: World Yearbook of Education. Kogan Page, London, pp. 20–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tirman, J. (1984).The Militarization of High Technology. Ballinger, Cambridge, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Towne, D. M. (1987). The generalized maintenance trainer. In Rouse, W. B. (ed.)Advances in Man-Machine Systems Research, vol. 3. JAI Press, Greenwich, Conn.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, J. (1981). A plenipotentiary for human intelligence.Science, 214 (6), 640–641.

    Google Scholar 

  • WGBH (1980). Top gun and beyond. NOVA Television Program (Jan. 20).

  • Wittrock, M. C. (1979). Applications of cognitive psychology to education and training. In O'Neil, H. F. Jr and Spielberger, C. D. (eds.)Cognitive and Affective Learning Strategies. Academic Press, New York, pp. 309–317

    Google Scholar 

  • Yussen, S. R. (1985). The role of metacognition in contemporary theories of cognitive development. In Forrest-Pressley, D. L., MacKinnon, G. E. and Waller, T. G. (eds.)Metacognition, Cognition, and Human Performance. Academic Press, New York, pp. 252–283.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zender, B. (1975).Computers and Education in the Soviet Union. Educational Technology Publications, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zuboff, S. (1988).In the Age of the Smart Machine. Basic Books, New York.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 76 Westland Avenue, 14618, New York, USA

    Douglas D. Noble

Authors
  1. Douglas D. Noble
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

This paper will also appear, under the title “Mental Material” inCyborg Worlds: The Military Information Society, eds. Les Levidow and Kevin Robins, London: Free Association Press, (in press).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Noble, D.D. Cockpit cognition: Education, the military and cognitive engineering. AI & Soc 3, 271–296 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01908619

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01908619

Keywords

Search

Navigation