The DOI matches its Crossref record; 47 of the 47 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 11 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.
On Distinguishing Epistemic from Pragmatic Action
Open accessAbstract
We present data and argument to show that in Tetris—a real‐time, interactive video game—certain cognitive and perceptual problems are more quickly, easily, and reliably solved by performing actions in the world than by performing computational actions in the head alone. We have found that some of the translations and rotations made by players of this video game are best understood as actions that use the world to improve cognition. These actions are not used to implement a plan, or to implement a reaction; they are used to change the world in order to simplify the problem‐solving task. Thus, we distinguish pragmatic actions—actions performed to bring one physically closer to a goal—from epistemic actions—actions performed to uncover informatioan that is hidden or hard to compute mentally. To illustrate the need for epistemic actions, we first develop a standard information‐processing model of Tetris cognition and show that it cannot explain performance data from human players of the game—even when we relax the assumption of fully sequential processing. Standard models disregard many actions taken by players because they appear unmotivated or superfluous. However, we show that such actions are actually far from superfluous; they play a valuable role in improving human performance. We argue that traditional accounts are limited because they regard action as having a single function: to change the world. By recognizing a second function of action—an epistemic function—we can explain many of the actions that a traditional model cannot. Although our argument is supported by numerous examples specifically from Tetris, we outline how the new category of epistemic action can be incorporated into theories of action more generally.
Overview
AI snapshot
Written from the paper’s full text.
TL;DR
The paper argues that Tetris players perform some rotations and translations not to advance a physical goal but to simplify cognition, introducing epistemic actions as distinct from pragmatic actions. A classical sequential information-processing model and an interleaving variant fail to explain extra rotations and translate-to-wall routines, which are better explained as actions that uncover information, reduce mental rotation, or verify placement.
Key findings
- Players rotate zoids more than expected for purely pragmatic placement: each zoid is rotated more than half its possible rotations; for a shape with four distinct orientations, the expected average would be 1.5 rotations, but observed rotations exceed this. Rotations sometimes begin before 100 ms, before the zoid is fully visible.
- Early rotation can expose hidden parts 150 to 300 ms earlier than waiting for natural appearance; partially hidden zoids ambiguous in both shape and position are more likely to be rotated than those ambiguous in shape alone, though no player reported noticing that zoids begin falling in different columns.
- Physical rotation of a zoid 90° can take as few as 100 ms, whereas mental rotation of a zoid 90° is estimated at 800 to 1200 ms. The translate-to-wall verification routine occurs in about 1% of drops; experts drop a zoid on average 15.65 squares from resting position ordinarily versus 20.05 squares after the translate routine, with intermediate players 13.18 versus 19.04 and advanced players 13.69 versus 19.33.
- The translate-to-wall routine moves the zoid away from the intended column, so it cannot be a pragmatically good move; its function is to verify the column and reduce error, and higher drops are more likely to be verified this way.
Methods
- Design: Tetris was used as a real-time, interactive video game domain; the authors implemented a computational laboratory to unobtrusively record the timing of all keystrokes and game situations, collected tachistoscopic mental rotation tests, and designed and implemented the RoboTetris expert system to compare human and machine performance.
- Sample: the mental rotation pilot had three Tetris players—one intermediate, one advanced, and one expert—each seeing eight presentations of each possible pair of L-shaped or S-shaped zoids; human gameplay data came from subjects playing Tetris.
- Analysis: a classical four-phase information-processing model was constructed (bitmap representation, chunked symbolic representation, placement computation, motor plan computation), then relaxed to allow cascade/interleaving; model predictions such as expected rotation counts were compared with observed keystroke timing and frequency, and deviations were interpreted as epistemic actions.
Limitations
- The paper states it is often hard to prove that an agent performs a particular action for epistemic rather than pragmatic reasons, because an action can serve both epistemic and pragmatic purposes simultaneously, making the relative influence difficult to quantify.
- The paper states it is an open question whether agents use multiple-perspective representations of zoids; the mental rotation data are described as pilot data from only three players, so the mental rotation time estimates are preliminary.
- Evident from the text: many epistemic interpretations are inferred from timing and behavioral regularities rather than direct experimental manipulation, and the mental rotation comparison rests on a very small sample.
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Claims the paper makes
74 Own interpretation · 18 No basis given · 15 Own result · 4 Sources not found · 2 No full text of the sources · 1 Own method
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In the paper
“By rotating an emerging zoid, players can expose its hidden parts, thereby uncovering its complete visual image 150 to 300 ms earlier than if they waited for it to appear naturally.”
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In the paper
“We have observed that occasionally a zoid will be rotated very early (before 100 ms), well before we would expect an agent to have any good idea of where to place the zoid.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“As shown in Table 1, experts drop a zoid, on average, when it is about 13 squares from its rest- ing position.”
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“The shortest time between keystrokes in our data is about 75 ms”
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“as shown in Figure 15, the greater the drop distance, the more likely the drop will be verified using the translate-to-wall routine.”
- Also stated in: § 546 KIRSH AND MAGLIO · plain
“we found that the higher the drop, the more often the translate-to-wall routine is used.”
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- Also stated in: § 546 KIRSH AND MAGLIO · plain
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Rotations and translations occur in abundance, almost from the moment a zoid enters the Tetris screen.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“the average time between keystrokes is around 250 ms”
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Our observations, however, indicate that agents learn qualitatively different behavioral tricks.”
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“Our data show that a player is more likely to rotate a partially hidden zoid that is ambiguous in both shape and position than one ambiguous in shape alone.”
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“But we have found at least one unambiguously epistemic use of transiation: to verify judgment of the column of a zoid.”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Probably not a substantial claim. 17
- It may state two separate claims as one. 8
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“In fewer than 10 hours, a newcomer can play at an intermediate level.”
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“Agents learn how to expose information early, how to prime themselves to recognize zoids faster, and how to perform external checks or verifications to reduce the uncertainty of judgments.”
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“This is particularly clear given that at 100 ms, the zoid is not yet completely in view, and sometimes the agent cannot even reliably guess the zoid's shape.”
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“Some players do report having hot spots in mind before an episode begins.”
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“P emerges in column 4, and R emerges in column 5”
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“First, it is a fast, repetitive game requiring split-second decisions of a perceptual and cognitive sort.”
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“In such studies, actions are defined as transformations in physical or social space.”
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In the paper
“There are only four possible actions a player can take: translate a zoid right, translate left, rotate, and drop.”
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“Because time is at a premium in this game, a standard perfor- mance model would predict that players develop strategies that minimize the number of moves, creating sequences of pragmatic actions which head directly toward goal states.”
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“The effects of rotating a zoid are wholly determinate.”
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“The only certain way to get information about new candidates into the iconic buffer is through perception.”
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In the paper
“In Phase Three, players determine where to put the zoid.”
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In the paper
“there are a host of separate brain regions involved in encoding the bitmap features in the iconic buffer. Some of these have close connections to motor cortex (Felleman & Van Essen, 1991; Sereno & Allman, 1991).”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Felleman & Van Essen, 1991 source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Sereno & Allman, 1991
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In the paper
“In Phase Three-the decision phase-rotation also serves a variety of epistemic functions.”
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In the paper
“By definition, it requires moving the zoid away from the currently intended column, and hence it cannot be a pragmatically good move.”
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In the paper
“Of course, such epistemic procedures may be cached, but they are not pragmatic procedures; they are procedures that direct the agent to exploit the environment to make the most of his or her limited cognitive resources.”
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None of the sources cited for this claim could be matched to a paper in Crossref, so there is nothing to check it against.
In the paper
“standard accounts of skill acquisition explain enhanced performance as the result of chunking, cach- ing, or compiling (Anderson, 1983; Newell, 1990; Newell & Rosenbloom, 1981; Reason, 1990).”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Anderson, 1983
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites Newell, 1990
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- Not matchedcites Newell & Rosenbloom, 1981; Reason, 1990
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- Not matched
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In the paper
“It is clearly in the interest of a player to identify the complete shape as soon as possible.”
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In the paper
“The processing model this suggests to us is a significant departure from classical theories of action. Its chief novelty lies in allowing individual func- tional units inside the agent to be in closed-loop interaction with the outside world.”
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In the paper
“the greater the drop height, the more in- formative the verification and the less risky (costly) the action.”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“it is not outrageous to suppose that there is motor involvement in selective attention since there already exists a close connection between attention and the oculo- motor system responsible for saccades.”
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“This kind of model follows the distributed framework proposed by Minsky (1986).”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Minsky (1986)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Not matched
The authors state this as an assumption.
Tetris cognition proceeds in four major phases.
“It is based on a classical information-processing model of expertise based on the sup- position that Tetris cognition proceeds in four major phases:”
The authors state this as an assumption.
The model is fully sequential: Phase Two is completed before Phase Three begins, and Three is completed before Four begins.
“As we have stated it, the model is fully sequential: Phase Two is completed before Phase Three begins, and Three is completed before Four begins.”
The paper relies on this without support.
Each zoid emerges in a random orientation, and on average any zoid can be expected to be placed in any of its orientations with equal probability.
“This follows because each zoid emerges in a random orientation, and on average, any zoid can be expected to be placed in any of its orientations with equal probability.”
The paper relies on this without support.
When a zoid first enters at the top of the screen, only a fraction of its total form is visible.
“When a zoid first enters at the top of the screen, only a fraction of its total form is visible.”
The paper relies on this without support.
At medium speed, a zoid descends at a rate of one square every 150 ms.
“At medium speed, a zoid descends at a rate of one square every 150 ms.”
The paper relies on this without support.
The close coupling between attention and saccades is already accepted.
“The close coupling between attention and saccades is already accepted”
The authors state this as an assumption.
Matching is a primitive process in working memory: Zoid chunk and contour chunk can be compared and matched only if they are explicitly represented in working memory.
“So far we have assumed that matching is a primitive process in working memory: Zoid chunk and contour chunk can be compared and matched only if they are explicitly represented in working memory.”
The paper relies on this without support.
The local effects of an action in Tetris are totally determinate, with no hidden states, exogenous influences, or other agents to change the result of hitting the rotate key.
“The property of Tetris which makes such a strategy pay off is that the local effects of an action are totally determinate. There are no hidden states, exogenous influences, or other agents to change the result of hitting the rotate key.”
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Exploratory epistemic actions (Kirsh and Maglio, 1994) are performed to unveil hidden information or to gain insight that would otherwise require a great deal of mental computation.”
From Physical and Virtual Tools: Activity Theory Applied to the Design of Groupware (2002) · cites this paper as Kirsh and Maglio, 1994
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Empirically, such externalisations have been shown to improve problem-solving accuracy as well as speed (Kirsh & Maglio, 1994).”
From Consequences of cognitive offloading: Boosting performance but diminishing memory (2021) · cites this paper as Kirsh & Maglio, 1994
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Hence, cognitive offloading with technical tools might enable performance beyond internal cognitive limitations and thus increase immediate performance (Kirsh & Maglio, 1994; Salomon & Perkins, 2005).”
From Consequences of cognitive offloading: Boosting performance but diminishing memory (2021) · cites this paper as Kirsh & Maglio, 1994
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Kirsh and Maglio (1994) argue that it is cognitively more economical to rotate the figure on screen by pushing a controller button than to mentally simulate the correct rotation.”
From The Cognitive Architecture of Digital Externalization (2023) · cites this paper as Kirsh and Maglio (1994)
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
§ 538 KIRSH AND MAGLIO
“As shown in Table 1, experts drop a zoid, on average, when it is about 13 squares from its rest- ing position. On those occasions when they also perform the translate-to- wall routine, the zoid is dropped, on average, from about 19 squares above its resting position”
§ 538 KIRSH AND MAGLIO
“Intermediate Advanced Expert M Drop Distance 13.18 13.69 15.65 M Drop Distance after Translate Routine 19.04 19.33 20.05”
Citations
Cites
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 201–300 of 1,470
The Developmental Origin of Metacognition
Brinck, I., & Liljenfors, R. (2012) · Infant and Child Development · doi:10.1002/icd.1749 · Cited by 82
“Following Kirsh, we distinguish between two kinds of action, the second kind being metacognitive in the sense we de fi ned previously (cf. Kirsh and Maglio, 1994).”
Distributing working memory resources during problem solving.
Cary, M., & Carlson, R. A. (2001) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition · doi:10.1037/0278-7393.27.3.836 · Cited by 65
Menary, R. (2010) · Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1007/s11097-010-9186-7 · Cited by 69
Sujets, activités, environnements
Durand, M., Saury, J., & Sève, C. (2006) · Presses Universitaires de France eBooks · doi:10.3917/puf.barbi.2006.01.0061 · Cited by 64
Schiller, D., Yu, A. N. C., Alia‐Klein, N., Becker, S., Cromwell, H. C., Dolcos, F., Eslinger, P. J., Frewen, P., Kemp, A. H., Pace-Schott, E. F., et al. (2023) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105450 · Cited by 89
An embodied cognition perspective on symbols, gesture, and grounding instruction
Nathan, M. J. (2008) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199217274.003.0018 · Cited by 63
Cognitive practices and cognitive character
Menary, R. (2012) · Philosophical Explorations · doi:10.1080/13869795.2012.677851 · Cited by 63
“This move was popular in the 1990s and was the original motivation for the concept of an epistemic action (Kirsh and Maglio 1994).”
BackgroundAbnormal gaze strategies during problem solving in Parkinson's disease
Hodgson, T. L. (2002) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/s0028-3932(01)00099-9 · Cited by 63
The coupling-constitution fallacy revisited
Aizawa, K. (2010) · Cognitive Systems Research · doi:10.1016/j.cogsys.2010.07.001 · Cited by 61
“In the next paragraphs, when Clark and Chalmers appeal to (Kirsh & Maglio, 1994)’s distinction between pragmatic and epistemic actions, they write the following: 5 But see, (Adams & Aizawa, 2008), Chapter 7, for further discussion of this assumption.”
BackgroundA Multimodal Analysis of Making
Worsley, M. B., & Blikstein, P. (2017) · International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education · doi:10.1007/s40593-017-0160-1 · Cited by 61
“One interpretation of this difference is that the two experimental conditions differentially impacted the rates of epistemic and pragmatic actions (Kirsh and Maglio 1994).”
When it gets more difficult, use both hands: exploring bimanual curve manipulation
Owen, R. N., Kurtenbach, G. P., Fitzmaurice, G. W., Baudel, T., & Buxton, B. (2005) · Cited by 60
How Students Come to Be, Know, and Do
Herrenkohl, L. R., & Mertl, V. (2010) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511777608 · Cited by 60
Grasping gestures: Gesturing with physical artifacts
van den Hoven, E., & Mazalek, A. (2011) · Artificial intelligence for engineering design analysis and manufacturing · doi:10.1017/s0890060411000072 · Cited by 60
“Practical actions, which can also be performative or spatial, can be considered pragmatic or epistemic (Kirsh & Maglio, 1994).”
BackgroundMarshall, P., & necker, E. H. (2013) · SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks · doi:10.4135/9781446282229.n11 · Cited by 59
“Kirsh and Maglio (1994) for example, described how expert users of the video game Tetris solved the problem of fitting irregularly-shaped blocks together by physically rotating them on a screen and using the computationally-cheap mental processes of pattern matching and recognition.”
BackgroundMining Tracks of Competitive Video Games
Rioult, F., Métivier, J.-P., Helleu, B., et al. (2014) · AASRI Procedia · doi:10.1016/j.aasri.2014.08.014 · Cited by 59
“AASRI Conference on Sports Engineering and Computer Science (SECS 2014), Jun 2014, Londres, United Kingdom. pp.82-87, 10.1016/j.aasri.2014.08.014. hal01011551”
BackgroundInfluentialConceptions of Cognition for Cognitive Engineering
Blomberg, O. (2011) · International Journal of Aviation Psychology · doi:10.1080/10508414.2011.537561 · Cited by 59
“I bring this into view using Kirsh and Maglio's (1994) distinction between pragmatic and epistemic actions.”
MethodThree Levels of Metric for Evaluating Wayfinding
Ruddle, R. A., & Lessels, S. (2006) · PRESENCE Virtual and Augmented Reality · doi:10.1162/pres.15.6.637 · Cited by 59
“A similar tradeoff was observed in a com- puterized version of the game Tetris (Kirsch & Maglio, 1994).”
Special Section: Can There Be Such a Thing as Embodied Embedded Cognitive Neuroscience?
van Dijk, J., Kerkhofs, R., van Rooij, I., & Haselager, P. (2008) · Theory & Psychology · doi:10.1177/0959354308089787 · Cited by 62
How human infants deal with symbol grounding
Cowley, S. J. (2007) · Interaction Studies Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems · doi:10.1075/is.8.1.06cow · Cited by 60
Rupert, R. D. (2013) · Review of Philosophy and Psychology · doi:10.1007/s13164-012-0129-9 · Cited by 58
“…1986), Esther Thelen and Linda Smith’s research in developmental psychology (Thelen and Smith 1994), David Kirsh’s exploration of epistemic actions (Kirsh and Maglio 1994; Kirsh 1995), Dana Ballard’s research on animate vision (Ballard 1991), and Tim van Gelder’s dynamicist philosophy of…”
BackgroundMalinin, L. H. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01978 · Cited by 72
Building to Discover: A Common Coding Model
Chandrasekharan, S. (2009) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/j.1551-6709.2009.01050.x · Cited by 56
“The latter could be online, that is, linked to an external movement (as in mental rotations while playing Tetris, see Kirsh & Maglio, 1994), or can be offline (as in purely imagined mental rotation).”
BackgroundMathematical symbols as epistemic actions
Cruz, H. D., & Smedt, J. D. (2010) · Synthese · doi:10.1007/s11229-010-9837-9 · Cited by 57
“Developmental and comparative psychologists have argued that our ability to represent natural numbers has precursors in perceptual capacities of preverbal infants and nonhuman animals.”
Fostering Hooks and Shifts: Tutorial Tactics for Guided Mathematical Discovery
Abrahamson, D., Gutiérrez, J., Charoenying, T., Negrete, A. G., & Bumbacher, E. W. (2012) · Technology Knowledge and Learning · doi:10.1007/s10758-012-9192-7 · Cited by 57
“…actions are not only pragmatically subservient to the exploration, they are epistemically central to the field of scrutiny—they are the data (cf. Kirsh and Maglio 1994); embodied interaction is ‘‘hands in.’’ We thus adhere to a conceptualization of perception and action as cognitively…”
BackgroundThree social car visions to improve driver behaviour
Rakotonirainy, A., Schroeter, R., & Soro, A. (2014) · Pervasive and Mobile Computing · doi:10.1016/j.pmcj.2014.06.004 · Cited by 57
“Novel HCI paradigms, such as tangible, gestural and manipulative interfaces, draw their theoretical soundness from various theories of embodied cognition, e.g. Kirsh and Maglio’s epistemic action [49, 56], Dourish’s embodied interaction [23] and Hostetter and Alibali’s visible embodiment [42].”
BackgroundOgnibene, D., & Baldassarre, G. (2014) · IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development · doi:10.1109/tamd.2014.2341351 · Cited by 55
“…of the action-based memory component for visual search, the one of [81] investigated how an active-vision system can readapt to changing tasks, and the one of [78] focussed on the effects of using manipulation actions to gather information from the world (i.e., as epistemic actions [56]).”
BackgroundKeefer, L. A., Landau, M. J., Sullivan, D., & Rothschild, Z. K. (2014) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2014.05.012 · Cited by 56
“On this view, people reason about abstract problems in part by monitoring concurrent, problem-relevant bodily states (Kirsh & Maglio, 1994).”
BackgroundMartin, T. (2009) · Child Development Perspectives · doi:10.1111/j.1750-8606.2009.00094.x · Cited by 56
Interactive effects of age and interface differences on search strategies and performance
Chin, J., & Fu, W. (2010) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/1753326.1753387 · Cited by 62
“However, in most of the human-computer-interaction (HCI) research, the user will tend to consider a computer (or any interactive user interface) as an external knowledge repository as well as an outside computational resource [13].”
BackgroundVisual separation in mobile multi-display environments
Cauchard, J. R., Löchtefeld, M., Irani, P., et al. (2011) · ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST) · doi:10.1145/2047196.2047256 · Cited by 56
“We also believe that the higher number of context switches in the Floor condition is due to the fact that context switches can be considered as epistemic [20], using the active memory to store the position of the geometric shapes in the pattern.”
BackgroundMark Making and Human Becoming
Malafouris, L. (2021) · Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory · doi:10.1007/s10816-020-09504-4 · Cited by 66
Akers, D. (2006) · ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST) · doi:10.1145/1166253.1166260 · Cited by 56
“Kirsh and Maglio’s taxonomy of actions [14] may help to distinguish the reasons why scientists rotate so much.”
BackgroundDirections for an Embodied Cognitive Science
Gomila, T., & Calvo, P. (2008) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-08-046616-3.00001-3 · Cited by 60
Representing Future Situations of Service : Prototyping in Service Design
Blomkvist, J. (2014) · Linköping University Electronic Press eBooks · doi:10.3384/diss.diva-105499 · Cited by 57
“For instance, Kirsh & Maglio (1994) described the concept of epistemic actions.”
BackgroundMethodA Corpus Analysis of Strategy Video Game Play in Starcraft: Brood War
Lewis, J. M., Trinh, P., & Kirsh, D. (2011) · Cited by 56
Self-citationPsychiatry Beyond the Brain: Externalism, Mental Health, and Autistic Spectrum Disorder
Roberts, T., Krueger, J., & Glackin, S. (2019) · Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology · doi:10.1353/ppp.2019.0030 · Cited by 54
“These external practices are epistemic actions (Clark, 1997; Kirsh & Maglio, 1994) that bring order to a messy and often unpredictable social world; their norm-gov- erned character reduces the descriptive complexity of the environment and simplifies computational demands by regulating our thoughts,…”
BackgroundEvaluating the effect of tangible virtual reality on spatial perspective taking ability
Chang, J. S.-K., Yeboah, G., Doucette, A., Clifton, P. G., Nitsche, M., Welsh, T. N., & Mazalek, A. (2017) · Symposium on Spatial User Interaction · doi:10.1145/3131277.3132171 · Cited by 58
“The idea of epistemic actions was introduced by Kirsh et al. [19], who used the video game Tetris to demonstrate the concept.”
MethodConvergent Trends Toward Ubiquitous Music
Keller, D., Flores, L. V., Pimenta, M. S., et al. (2011) · Journal of New Music Research · doi:10.1080/09298215.2011.594514 · Cited by 54
“Within the realm of physical/digital systems, Kirsh and Maglio (1994) propose two types of actions: epistemic and pragmatic.”
BackgroundUnderstanding Data Visualization Design Practice
Parsons, P. (2021) · IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics · doi:10.1109/tvcg.2021.3114959 · Cited by 91
“Cognitive scientists have found that people rely on artifacts in the environment, rather than plans in their heads, to serve epistemic functions and aid in decision-making in the moment [46,47].”
BackgroundProspective Adaptation in the Use of External Representations
Martin, L., & Schwartz, D. L. (2009) · Cognition and Instruction · doi:10.1080/07370000903221775 · Cited by 53
Embodied Cognition, Representationalism, and Mechanism: A Review and Analysis
Spackman, J. S., & Yanchar, S. C. (2013) · Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour · doi:10.1111/jtsb.12028 · Cited by 56
Embodied Interaction and Spatial Skills: A Systematic Review of Empirical Studies
Lee-Cultura, S., & Giannakos, M. (2020) · Interacting with Computers · doi:10.1093/iwcomp/iwaa023 · Cited by 53
Auletta, G. (2011) · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199608485.001.0001 · Cited by 91
Video Gaming as Practical Accomplishment: Ethnomethodology, Conversation Analysis, and Play
Reeves, S., Greiffenhagen, C., & Laurier, É. (2016) · Topics in Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/tops.12234 · Cited by 52
“Or to put this another way, for the cognitive sciences, the starting point is typically a particular theory—of action, of cognition, of sense-making, etc. (e.g., the Kirsh and Maglio (1994) theory of “epistemic action” which has been applied to video game play).”
BackgroundCompetent Workplace Mathematics: How Signs Become Transparent in Use
Roth, W. (2003) · International Journal of Computers for Mathematical Learning · doi:10.1023/b:ijco.0000003873.36183.2d · Cited by 51
“As the analysis of very fast Tetris players has shown, visual processing of the screen image and its mental representation and interpretation would take 1.2 seconds or more ( Kirsh and Maglio, 1994 ).”
MethodInfluentialIterative user and expert feedback in the design of an educational virtual reality biology game
Wang, A., Thompson, M., Roy, D., Pan, K., Perry, J., Tan, P. B., Eberhart, R., & Klopfer, E. D. (2019) · Interactive Learning Environments · doi:10.1080/10494820.2019.1678489 · Cited by 64
COGNITIVE SUPPORT IN SOFTWARE ENGINEERING TOOLS: A DISTRIBUTED COGNITION FRAMEWORK
Walenstein, A. (2002) · Cited by 51
Toward a neural basis for peer-interaction: what makes peer-learning tick?
Clark, I., & Dumas, G. (2015) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00028 · Cited by 59
“During a specifically learning-interaction learners formulate and consciously adapt their social strategies so they maintain intersubjectivity and sustain cooperation (Kirsh and Maglio, 1995; Black and Wiliam, 1998, 2009).”
BackgroundPractising Value Innovation through Artificial Intelligence: The IBM Watson Case
Russo-Spena, T., Mele, C., & Marzullo, M. (2019) · Journal of Creating Value · doi:10.1177/2394964318805839 · Cited by 50
Maglio, P. P., Matlock, T., Raphaely, D., Chernicky, B., & Kirsh, D. (2020) · Psychology Press eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781410603494-62 · Cited by 49
Self-citationInteractive design of multimodal user interfaces
König, W. A., Rädle, R., & Reiterer, H. (2010) · Journal on Multimodal User Interfaces · doi:10.1007/s12193-010-0044-2 · Cited by 49
“This inflexibility also restricts interaction designers in exploring diverse alternatives, which then impedes rapid prototyping and limits epistemic production [18] of concrete prototypes.”
BackgroundThinking with External Representations
Kirsh, D. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-49115-8_4 · Cited by 49
Self-citationTowards a Praxeology of Teaching
Roth, W., Lawless, D., & Tobin, K. G. (2000) · Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l éducation · doi:10.2307/1585864 · Cited by 49
“This modality of action, as artificial intelligence and cognitive science researchers have shown, takes much longer than the epistemic actions and embodied computation of habitus (Kirsh & Maglio, 1994).”
BackgroundPhilosophy of mathematical practice: a primer for mathematics educators
Hamami, Y., & Morris, R. L. (2020) · ZDM · doi:10.1007/s11858-020-01159-5 · Cited by 48
“Lakatos (1976) dedicated his famous dialogue Proofs and Refutations to Pólya, as well as to Popper, the philosopher of science.”
BackgroundInfluentialSchneider, B., Sharma, K., Cuendet, S., et al. (2016) · ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction · doi:10.1145/3012009 · Cited by 48
Examining Adolescents’ Strategic Processing During Online Reading With a Question-Generating Task
Cho, B., Woodward, L., Li, D., & Barlow, W. (2017) · American Educational Research Journal · doi:10.3102/0002831217701694 · Cited by 48
“Learners’ cognition is for action, which is situated in real time, and therefore, when readers face a novel task under time pressure, the representational bottleneck comes into play and performance suffers (Kirsh & Maglio, 1994).”
BackgroundFasoli, M. (2018) · Review of Philosophy and Psychology · doi:10.1007/s13164-017-0363-2 · Cited by 49
“This movement constitutes an B epistemic action ^ , as Kirsh and Maglio (1994) point out (see also Brey 2005, p. 388), which in turn constitutes a method, or procedure, that we apply to the object to facilitate our cognitive task.”
BackgroundMethodDesign and evaluation of a head-mounted display for immersive 3D teleoperation of field robots
Martins, H., Oakley, I., & Ventura, R. (2014) · Robotica · doi:10.1017/s026357471400126x · Cited by 47
“One reason underlying this breakdown may relate to the fundamental distinction between epistemic and pragmatic action, 33 or activities intended to explore a problem space (or strictly speaking, to alter or simplify the nature of a cognitive problem) and those intended to make concrete steps to…”
BackgroundMeshed Architecture of Performance as a Model of Situated Cognition
Gallagher, S., & Varga, S. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02140 · Cited by 50
“Various instruments allow us to engage in epistemic actions (Kirsh and Maglio, 1994), and for some cognitive tasks, we require the use of such instruments.”
BackgroundEccles, D. W. (2006) · Journal of Sports Sciences · doi:10.1080/02640410500432854 · Cited by 51
Mind as an Anticipatory Device: For a Theory of Expectations
Castelfranchi, C. (2005) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/11565123_26 · Cited by 46
“…strictly conceived as reactive (not really goal-driven) behaviors, but based on anticipatory representation of the outcomes. so relevant as the first objective, since it is just in order to confirm X to be a good predictor or that the world is predictable enough; it is just a by-product…”
BackgroundBUILD-IT: An intuitive design tool based on direct object manipulation
Fjeld, M., Bichsel, M., & Rauterberg, M. (1998) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/bfb0053008 · Cited by 48
“Motor activity was classified by Kirsh and Maglio [12] as being either epistemic or pragmatic.”
BackgroundImmaterial engagement: human agency and the cognitive ecology of the internet
Clowes, R. W. (2019) · Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1007/s11097-018-9560-4 · Cited by 45
“The closely coupled interactions with device and terrain to fine one´s current location can be regarded as what Kirsh and Maglio (1994) call epistemic actions.”
BackgroundKersting, M., Haglund, J., & Steier, R. (2021) · Science & Education · doi:10.1007/s11191-021-00232-z · Cited by 64
Los sistemas externos de representación como herramientas de la mente
Echeverría, M. D. P. P., Martí, E., & Pozo, J. I. (2010) · Culture and Education · doi:10.1174/113564010791304519 · Cited by 44
Tool use as distributed cognition: how tools help, hinder and define manual skill
Baber, C., Parekh, M., & GÜNDÜZ, T. (2014) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00116 · Cited by 48
“For example, people playing Tetris or Scrabble can benefit (in some situations) by being allowed to manipulate and rearrange the playing pieces (Kirsh and Maglio, 1994; Maglio et al., 1999).”
BackgroundEconomic Reasoning and Interaction in Socially Extended Market Institutions
Gallagher, S., Mastrogiorgio, A., & Petracca, E. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01856 · Cited by 48
Epistemic Action Increases With Skill
Maglio, P. P., & Kirsh, D. (1996) · Cited by 49
Self-citationWriting as extended mind: Recentering cognition, rethinking tool use
Overstreet, M. (2022) · Computers & composition/Computers and composition · doi:10.1016/j.compcom.2022.102700 · Cited by 44
Conceptually congruent actions can promote thought.
Segal, A., Tversky, B., & Black, J. (2014) · Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.jarmac.2014.06.004 · Cited by 47
Mechanisms for the acquisition of situation awareness in situated agents
Chiappe, D. L., Strybel, T. Z., & Vu, K. L. (2011) · Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science · doi:10.1080/1463922x.2011.611267 · Cited by 49
“An illustration of the distributed approach comes from Kirsch and Maglio's ( 1994 ) study of the computer game Tetris.”
MethodHuman-Centered Interactivity of Visualization Tools: Micro- and Macro-level Considerations
Sedig, K., Parsons, P., Dittmer, M., & Haworth, R. (2013) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-7485-2_29 · Cited by 44
“Research in various branches of cognitive science over the past few decades has demonstrated that human cognition is fundamentally influenced by the environment in which one is situated [7, 11, 12, 24, 35, 55].”
BackgroundMaking Sense of Space: Distributed Spatial Sensemaking in a Middle School Summer Engineering Camp
Ramey, K. E., & Uttal, D. H. (2017) · Journal of the Learning Sciences · doi:10.1080/10508406.2016.1277226 · Cited by 56
Hearing Impairment Increases Communication Effort During Conversations in Noise
Beechey, T., Buchholz, J. M., & Keidser, G. (2019) · Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research · doi:10.1044/2019_jslhr-19-00201 · Cited by 47
Thinking outside the brain: Spatial indices to visual and linguistic Information.
Spivey, M., Richardson, D. C., & Fitneva, S. (2004) · Cited by 44
Using lag-sequential analysis for understanding interaction sequences in visualizations
Pohl, M., Wallner, G., & Kriglstein, S. (2016) · International Journal of Human-Computer Studies · doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2016.07.006 · Cited by 43
“Distributed cognition: One of the main reasons why distributed cognition might explain the interaction of users with software artifacts is the fact that distributed cognition takes the artifact itself into account (Hollan et al., 2000; Hutchins, 1995; Kirsh and Maglio, 1994).”
BackgroundEvaluating Learning with Tangible and Virtual Representations of Archaeological Artifacts
Pollalis, C., Minor, E., Westendorf, L., Fahnbulleh, W., Virgilio, I., Kun, A. L., & Shaer, O. (2018) · International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (TEI) · doi:10.1145/3173225.3173260 · Cited by 46
“By manipulating an object, a student builds a mental conception through testing and observing its characteristics and relationships with other concepts [26, 27].”
BackgroundNarrative niche construction: memory ecologies and distributed narrative identities
Heersmink, R. (2020) · Biology & Philosophy · doi:10.1007/s10539-020-09770-2 · Cited by 48
The Making of Marketing Decisions in Modern Marketing Environments
Nordin, F., & Ravald, A. (2022) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.113872 · Cited by 70
Embodiment and the Philosophy of Mind
Clark, A. (1998) · Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement · doi:10.1017/s135824610000429x · Cited by 43
Tracking Information Flow through the Environment: Simple Cases of Stigmerg
Klyubin, A. S., Polani, D., & Nehaniv, C. L. (2004) · University of Hertfordshire Research Archive (University of Hertfordshire) · Cited by 42
Learning and interactivity in solving a transformation problem
Guthrie, L. G., Vallée‐Tourangeau, F., Vallée-Tourangeau, G., & Howard, C. (2015) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/s13421-015-0504-8 · Cited by 40
Walther-Hansen, M. (2020) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197533901.001.0001 · Cited by 55
The User Puzzle—Explaining the Interaction with Visual Analytics Systems
Pohl, M., Smuc, M., & Mayr, E. (2012) · IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics · doi:10.1109/tvcg.2012.273 · Cited by 40
“Distributed cognition is also an appropriate framework to explain epistemic actions (see Kirsh and Maglio [23]).”
BackgroundAffordances in Interaction: The Case of Aikido
Kimmel, M., & Rogler, C. R. (2018) · Ecological Psychology · doi:10.1080/10407413.2017.1409589 · Cited by 58
“…many useful affordances arise only interactively, that is, one needs to sustain an encounter to create feedback “ as one goes along ” through generative actions (Ballard, Hayhoe, Pook, & Rao, 1997; Gray, 2004; Kirsh & Maglio, 1994; Steffensen, 2013) and strategic enactive probing (Kimmel, 2012).”
BackgroundThe Psychology of Contemporary Art
Minissale, G. (2013) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781139094313 · Cited by 41
Language, interactivity and solution probing: repetition without repetition
Cowley, S. J., & Nash, L. (2013) · Adaptive Behavior · doi:10.1177/1059712313482804 · Cited by 40
The extended mind theory of cognitive distortions in sex offenders
Ward, T. J. (2009) · Journal of Sexual Aggression · doi:10.1080/13552600903263087 · Cited by 40
“@Actions designed to change the input to an agent's information processing system.”
BackgroundInfluentialMagnani, L., & Bardone, E. (2008) · Studies in computational intelligence · doi:10.1007/978-3-540-78733-4_1 · Cited by 41
“Kirlik [96], also resorting to a distinction between pragmatic and epistemic action offered by Kirsh and Maglio [51],25 offers an analysis of the problem that is extremely interesting to further clarify the dichotomy.”
BackgroundLiben, L. S., Myers, L. J., & Christensen, A. E. (2010) · Spatial Cognition and Computation · doi:10.1080/13875860903568550 · Cited by 40
“More broadly, this result is consistent with the notion that individuals can profit from epistemic actions that off-load processing demands to the physical environment ( Kastens, Liben, & Agrawal, 2008 ; Kirsch & Maglio, 1994 ).”
ResultCAMERON, R., & Williams, J. G. (1997) · Applied Linguistics · doi:10.1093/applin/18.4.415 · Cited by 41
The importance of chance and interactivity in creativity
Kirsh, D. (2014) · Pragmatics & Cognition · doi:10.1075/pc.22.1.01kir · Cited by 40
“Humans think interactively (Kirsh and Maglio 1994; Hollan et al. 2000; Clark 2006; Cowley and Vallée-Tourangeau 2010).”
BackgroundSelf-citationKnappett, C. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108554695 · Cited by 46
Enacting memories through and with things: Remembering as material engagement
Prezioso, E., & Alessandroni, N. (2022) · Memory Studies · doi:10.1177/17506980221108475 · Cited by 47
“…(Clark and Chalmers, 1998; Donald, 1991; Hutchins, 1995; Rowlands, 1999; Sutton et al., 2010) argue that, under specific circumstances, information-laden things can instantiate cognition, therefore implying that cognition need not be skull-bound (e.g. Heersmink, 2020b; Kirsh and Maglio, 1994).”
BackgroundHow marking in dance constitutes thinking with the body
Kirsh, D. (2011) · PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation) · Cited by 45
Self-citationThe metaphysics of cognitive artefacts
Heersmink, R. (2014) · Philosophical Explorations · doi:10.1080/13869795.2014.910310 · Cited by 39
“Using artefacts to perform cognitive tasks gives us clear epistemic benefits, as they make such tasks easier, faster, more reliable, or possible in the first place (Kirsh and Maglio 1994).”
BackgroundBefore and Beyond Representation: Towards an enactive conception of the Palaeolithic image
Malafouris, L. (2007) · Cited by 41
Game over for Tetris as a platform for cognitive skill training
Pilegard, C., & Mayer, R. E. (2018) · Contemporary Educational Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2018.04.003 · Cited by 39
“Kirsh and Maglio (1994) use the term epistemic action to refer to onscreen rotations intended to reduce the need for mental operations.”
BackgroundProblem Solvers Adjust Cognitive Offloading Based on Performance Goals
Weis, P. P., & Wiese, E. (2019) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/cogs.12802 · Cited by 38
Situated Cognition: A Field Guide to Some Open Conceptual and Ontological Issues
Walter, S. (2013) · Review of Philosophy and Psychology · doi:10.1007/s13164-013-0167-y · Cited by 42
Metadata
- Authors
- Kirsh, D., & Maglio, P.
- Affiliations
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kirsh, David
- Venue
- Cognitive Science
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1994-10
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 513-549
- ISSN
- 0364-0213 (ISSN-L)
- 1551-6709
- OpenAlex
- W2128922568
- Cited by
- 1,641
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 63 · 2025: 123 · 2024: 47 · 2023: 64 · 2022: 112 · 2021: 50 · 2020: 104 · 2019: 89 · 2018: 60 · 2017: 60 · 2016: 66 · 2015: 83 · 2014: 71 · 2013: 83 · 2012: 57
- FWCI
- 4.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Cognitive Science (publishedVersion)
- PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › AI-based Problem Solving and Planning
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Keywords
- epistemic actions, Tetris, video gaming, cognition and action, information processing model, problem solving, philosophy of action
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-10-12, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).
A second model labelled each claim on 2026-10-12 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
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