Hutchins (1995) describes the scenario of crew members working together to navigate a ship at sea. They act as a well-coordinated team, with each crew member fulfilling a distinct role. The helmsperson steers the ship, the lookout scans for hazards, the compass operator checks bearings. By smoothly distributing task-relevant information, the team collectively solves complex problems that surpass the capacity of any single individual. What are the cognitive mechanisms that underpin such distributed behaviours? Our symposium aims to shed light on this question by drawing upon research from a range of cognitive domains. Across five talks, we discuss mechanisms that support individuals in distributing cognitive labour to solve complex tasks collectively. We cover tasks such as searching, remembering, problem-solving and decision-making. In doing so, we hope to demonstrate how our cognitive processes are attuned to the social world around us in ways that enable people to distribute, share, or offload cognitive load and thereby achieve more together than they could alone.