Distributed Cognition: The Combat Information Center (CIC)

A New Solution Emerges

During 1943, as experimentation continued, Nimitz and his staff remained focused on the functions of the CIC and its role as “an information station.” However, ship captains and their CIC teams were starting to explore how the CIC could augment naval commanders’ cognitive capabilities.(12) Their work moved the CIC beyond an information system and transformed it into a system of distributed cognition.

The most effective argument for broadening the responsibility of the CIC came from combat experience. During a nocturnal aerial attack, a rapid response was essential. In many situations, there was no time to alert the commanding officer to the danger and have him order the antiaircraft guns to fire. Ships that did so often opened fire too late to fight off the attack. Others experimented with an approach where the commanding officer was “on the loop” rather than “in the loop.” If an attack was anticipated, the CIC could order the guns to fire as soon as it was detected. This broadened the CIC’s responsibilities and allowed it to assume command functions, but it also maximized the opportunity to thwart an attack. Lessons like these made it apparent that the CIC had an essential role in clarifying and simplifying the work of command.(13)

Ultimately, the CIC became a system of distributed cognition fully integrated with the ship’s command functions. The work of making sense of available information was divided up among different roles that distributed the cognitive load, and allowed rapid assessment, analysis, and synthesis of incoming information using visual plots as a symbolic information system. Some typical roles were:

• Radar Operator, who observed the radar display.
• Plot Recorder, who made sense of the information provided by the Radar Operator.
• Plotter, who recorded information specified by the Plot Recorder.
• Radio Recorder, who monitored radio traffic and recorded its details.
• Evaluator, who assessed all available information and synthesized it.
• CIC Talker, who communicated the Evaluator’s assessment to the captain and other command functions.

Nimitz specified functions and desired outcomes while leaving teams room to experiment with how to achieve them. They adapted existing practices and divided the work of observing, interpreting, recording, and communicating information. As the CIC became integrated with command, this division of work helped ships coordinate operations and respond without routing every decision through the captain.