Writing and Cognition: Implications of the Cognitive Architecture for Learning to Write and Writing to Learn

Cognitive approaches to the study of writing have earlier roots (see Nystrand, 2006), but in the late 1970s the fields of cognitive psychology and process-oriented rhetoric converged with sustained impact on the campus of Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University, spurred by work of Richard Young (e.g., Young & Becker, 1965) and spawning the influential cognitive model of writing developed by Dick Hayes and Linda Flower (Hayes & Flower, 1980). Influenced by the cognitive science Zeitgeist, Hayes and Flower’s initial conceptualizations drew heavily on expert-novice and artificial intelligence (AI) traditions and compared composing processes with problem solving (see also Collins & Centner, 1980).