ABSTRACT
In chapters 2 and 3 we laid out what might be called the “ancient history” of Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA), showing that it has roots in the early scientific psychology and showing that task analysis was never purely behavioral and never in any sort of state of denial over the causal role of mental events. In this chapter, we trace the modern trends and developments that mark the specific origins of CTA and Cognitive Field Research (CFR). A variety of events, trends, and problems falling at the intersection of cognition, collaboration, technology, and work became salient circa 1980. Many people at many laboratories and organizations found it natural to speak of and carry out what they called “Cognitive Task Analysis,” with multiple parallel and independent origins of the activity and coinages of the term, or related terms.
