A common belief about cognition is that we think in the same way that a computer computes - that is that data enters the brain, it is processed, and some kind of output is produced. This notion has been popular since the advent of computers, and frequently the brain is thought of as a highly complex biological computer. In this perspective, meaning results from the brain processing representations of the world, in much the same way as a computer processes digital representations to get a result. In this talk, I suggest that this view of how we think has a significant impact on the way we design systems for human use, and yet there is evidence that we may actually think quite differently. That is, meaning may not be as directly related to representation as we asume. It is possible that we may not actually think the way that we think we think. If this is the case, then there are significant implications for UX design. This presentation demonstrates why this difference in thinking is so significant for UX, and how adopting a paradigm change may influence the approaches we take to designing the user experience. UX Australia 2017 Talk http://www.uxaustralia.com.au/conferences/uxaustralia-2017/presentation/the-way-we-think-we-think-thoughts-on-representation-and-meaning/