Ecological cognition is a branch of cognitive psychology that originated in the United Kingdom in the early 21st century. It derives from studies into how individuals act in the environments they are part of, such as virtual communities and is influenced by the work of contemporary scientists such as Giuseppe Mantovani, Donald Norman and Lucy Suchman. It shares the same unit of analysis as ecological psychology, that being the relationship between the individual and their environment. In activity theory the computer is seen as a tool which is used to mediate an activity whereas in ecological cognition, it is seen as another environment for analysis, an environment that is made up of individuals, objects and other representations.
