The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain

by Annie Murphy Paul

Wine experts, meanwhile, know about surface-level characteristics like grapes and regions—but they think about wine in terms of function: wines that are luscious and fruity, good for pairing with spicy food; wines that are big and bold and can stand up to a hearty meal; wines that are fizzy and festive, fit for a celebration. “Luscious,” “Big,” and “Fizzy” are, in fact, three of the eight categories Wesson devised for his stores (the others are “Soft,” “Fresh,” “Juicy,” “Smooth,” and “Sweet”). Foregrounding these features is like giving customers a shortcut to thinking the way a sommelier does. Following Wesson’s lead, experts more generally can make themselves into accessible models for imitation by communicating the categories they use to organize information, categories that are themselves packed with meaning about how experts’ thinking operates.