Contextual Mediation of Cognitive Activity

The article presents an analysis of the effect of context in cognitive activity. Contextual influences are expressed in changes of productivity and time of problem solving under the influence of actual irrelevant information or previously formed knowledge structures. The importance of studying contextual variables stems from their fundamental role in cognitive processes. Examples of contextual mediation are the effects of dependence of perception of an object (figure) on the perceptual environment (background), priming effects, effects of awareness of multivalued information, effects of context-dependent memory, effects of contextual cues, effects of functional fixation in solving thinking tasks, etc. By analogy with types of memory it is proposed to differentiate ultra-short-term, short-term and long-term (stable) contexts. A prospect in the study of contextual influences can become the study of types and character of interaction of contexts having different characteristics. The latter include: "homogeneity/heterogeneity" of the context, "relevance/irrelevance" to the task, "power" - the integration of local contexts in a single context, "congruence/dissociation" as the correspondence/dissimilarity of different contexts to each other.