Page 1 of 97
COGSCI 180 Midterm Exam Questions with Correct
Answers — 2026–2027, Complete Midterm Exam
Material Graded A+
Introduction
This document contains comprehensive COGSCI 180 midterm exam
questions with verified answers covering cognitive science, the self,
consciousness, memory, neuroscience, philosophical theories of
mind, agency and free will, schizophrenia, dissociation, PTSD, and
related topics. It includes detailed question-and-answer material on
conditions such as Cotard’s syndrome, BIID, Alzheimer’s disease,
amnesia, and neurological research on the sense of self.
Exam Questions and Answers
John Searle's Chinese Room argument --- correct precise answer ----
Tries to show that computational theory of mind & physical symbol
system hypothesis are completely mistaken
- Describes a situation in which symbols are manipulated to
produce right outputs, but no genuine understanding/intelligence
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Searle's Chinese Room thought experiment --- correct precise
answer ---- A person who doesn't understand Chinese in closed
room
− Person receives paper through one window and passes paper
through another window
− Paper has Chinese written on them
− In the room is huge instruction manual that tells person in the
room which papers to pass out depending on which papers he
receives
− To all intents/purposes, person in room is responding in Chinese,
yet he does not understand Chinese
☞ So what does it really mean to "understand" something, to be
fully "conscious"?
Searle on Turing Test --- correct precise answer ---Searle also thinks
that the Chinese room argument reveals a fundamental problem
with the so-called Turing Test
Turing Test --- correct precise answer ---Proposed by Alan Turing in
1950 as criterion for whether machine is displaying real
intelligence. Observer communicating w/machine can't tell
between computer & human → computer is genuinely intelligent
- Participants: human interrogator/judge, human responder,
machine responder
- Neutral communication: No visibility/other clues (e.g., all three
responding through computer terminals - no handwriting/voice
clues)
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- Interrogation: Interrogator asks agents (human and machine) a
series of questions
- Resolution: After time interval, interrogator tries to decide which
responder is human
Autoscopic Phenomena (AP) --- correct precise answer ---Experience
in which an individual perceives the
surrounding environment from a different perspective or perceives
their body from
a position outside of their own body (autos = "self"; scopy =
"watcher")
Subtypes of Autoscopic Phenomena include: --- correct precise
answer ---Out-of-body experience (OBE): Leaving body, seeing it
from outside perspective like ceiling looking down on body in bed
- Dualism of body/mind: center of awareness floats free of body
- Ex: Subject sees himself immobile in bed, but feels as if floating
above bed
Autoscopic hallucination (AH): Person experiences seeing double of
themselves in extrapersonal space without the experience of
leaving their body
− Individual perceives world from usual visuo-spatial perspective
Ø Ex: Subject suddenly notices a seated figure on his left. "It wasn't
hard to realize that it was I myself who was sitting there."
Heautoscopy (HAS): Person experiences seeing double of
themselves, but it is
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difficult for them to decide whether the self is localized within the
physical body or in
the autoscopic body
− Individual may report seeing in an alternating or simultaneous
fashion from different
visuo-spatial perspectives
Ø Ex: Subject feels as if she were standing at the foot of her bed
and looking down at
herself, yet she also has the impression of "seeing" from the visuo-
spatial perspective
of her physical body, which looks at the wall immediately in front
of her
o Asked at which of these two positions she thinks herself to be, she
answers that
"I am at both positions at the same time"
v May take form of doppelgänger effect, where person perceives
and interacts with a
duplicate of their own body
- The person hallucinating finds their identity and location
shifting from the physical body to the illusory body,
sometimes moving back and forth in rapid succession
- The experience is usually accompanied by the presence of strong
emotions
Ø Ex: Ananthaswamy described case of man shaking his double,
trying to get the
latter to get up out of bed and go to work, while the double laid in
bed with a
hangover, unwilling to move
COGSCI 180 Midterm Exam Questions with Correct
Answers — 2026–2027, Complete Midterm Exam
Material Graded A+
Introduction
This document contains comprehensive COGSCI 180 midterm exam
questions with verified answers covering cognitive science, the self,
consciousness, memory, neuroscience, philosophical theories of
mind, agency and free will, schizophrenia, dissociation, PTSD, and
related topics. It includes detailed question-and-answer material on
conditions such as Cotard’s syndrome, BIID, Alzheimer’s disease,
amnesia, and neurological research on the sense of self.
Exam Questions and Answers
John Searle's Chinese Room argument --- correct precise answer ----
Tries to show that computational theory of mind & physical symbol
system hypothesis are completely mistaken
- Describes a situation in which symbols are manipulated to
produce right outputs, but no genuine understanding/intelligence
,Page 2 of 97
Searle's Chinese Room thought experiment --- correct precise
answer ---- A person who doesn't understand Chinese in closed
room
− Person receives paper through one window and passes paper
through another window
− Paper has Chinese written on them
− In the room is huge instruction manual that tells person in the
room which papers to pass out depending on which papers he
receives
− To all intents/purposes, person in room is responding in Chinese,
yet he does not understand Chinese
☞ So what does it really mean to "understand" something, to be
fully "conscious"?
Searle on Turing Test --- correct precise answer ---Searle also thinks
that the Chinese room argument reveals a fundamental problem
with the so-called Turing Test
Turing Test --- correct precise answer ---Proposed by Alan Turing in
1950 as criterion for whether machine is displaying real
intelligence. Observer communicating w/machine can't tell
between computer & human → computer is genuinely intelligent
- Participants: human interrogator/judge, human responder,
machine responder
- Neutral communication: No visibility/other clues (e.g., all three
responding through computer terminals - no handwriting/voice
clues)
,Page 3 of 97
- Interrogation: Interrogator asks agents (human and machine) a
series of questions
- Resolution: After time interval, interrogator tries to decide which
responder is human
Autoscopic Phenomena (AP) --- correct precise answer ---Experience
in which an individual perceives the
surrounding environment from a different perspective or perceives
their body from
a position outside of their own body (autos = "self"; scopy =
"watcher")
Subtypes of Autoscopic Phenomena include: --- correct precise
answer ---Out-of-body experience (OBE): Leaving body, seeing it
from outside perspective like ceiling looking down on body in bed
- Dualism of body/mind: center of awareness floats free of body
- Ex: Subject sees himself immobile in bed, but feels as if floating
above bed
Autoscopic hallucination (AH): Person experiences seeing double of
themselves in extrapersonal space without the experience of
leaving their body
− Individual perceives world from usual visuo-spatial perspective
Ø Ex: Subject suddenly notices a seated figure on his left. "It wasn't
hard to realize that it was I myself who was sitting there."
Heautoscopy (HAS): Person experiences seeing double of
themselves, but it is
, Page 4 of 97
difficult for them to decide whether the self is localized within the
physical body or in
the autoscopic body
− Individual may report seeing in an alternating or simultaneous
fashion from different
visuo-spatial perspectives
Ø Ex: Subject feels as if she were standing at the foot of her bed
and looking down at
herself, yet she also has the impression of "seeing" from the visuo-
spatial perspective
of her physical body, which looks at the wall immediately in front
of her
o Asked at which of these two positions she thinks herself to be, she
answers that
"I am at both positions at the same time"
v May take form of doppelgänger effect, where person perceives
and interacts with a
duplicate of their own body
- The person hallucinating finds their identity and location
shifting from the physical body to the illusory body,
sometimes moving back and forth in rapid succession
- The experience is usually accompanied by the presence of strong
emotions
Ø Ex: Ananthaswamy described case of man shaking his double,
trying to get the
latter to get up out of bed and go to work, while the double laid in
bed with a
hangover, unwilling to move
