COGS 100 Final Exam Questions &
Answers 2025/2026
Enactivism - ANSWERSargues that cognition arises through a dynamic interaction between an
acting organism and its environment
Distributed Cognition - ANSWERSpredicated on the notion that cognition is distributed across
material, social, and cultural systems that moves beyond the individual as the unit of analysis
Extending the Mind - ANSWERSan exploration of what it would take to extend the cognitive
abilities of the human mind, what this entails, and consideration of the related requirements,
implications, and ethical concerns
Early classic cyborg: rat with implanted rose osmotic pump - ANSWERSpump automatically
injects chemicals into the rat to form a biotechnological control loop, which can be adapted to
unusual conditions (e.g. survival in space)
Norbert Weiner - ANSWERSAutomating anti- aircraft missile system during WW2. Information
and messages are processed via feedback control mechanisms. The information is separable
from the material itself
Claude Shannon - ANSWERSResponsible for calculating the signal to noise ratio of telephone
lines to improve their efficiency. Creates a mathematical theory of information quantified in
bits... Worked with Bell Labs on fire control and cryptography during WW2
Cybernetics via Plato - ANSWERSPlato introduces the concept to philosophy Based on the Greek
'kybernetes', meaning steersman or governor At its core is the notion of 'self-governance'
,W. Ross Ashby - ANSWERSFeedback systems for maintaining homeostasis. The Homeostat is one
of the first devices capable of adapting itself to the environment — 1948
Computationalism/Functionalism - ANSWERSMental states (beliefs, desires, being in pain, etc.)
are constituted solely by their functional role (the causal relations of mental states to other
mental states, sensory inputs, and behavioral outputs)
Cognitivism/Functionalism: puts a computer in our heads + we can put our minds in computers
Cybernetics = - ANSWERS"the scientific study of control and communication in the animal and
the machine."
This is feedback control, which is usually continuous and involves taking measurements using a
sensor and making calculated adjustments to keep the measured variable within a set range by
means of a "final control element"
examples of cybernetic human organisms - ANSWERSvision-enhancing contact lenses
proprio bionic foot
prosthetic leg
artificial kidney
artificial lung
Embodiment = Post-cognitivist = Enactivist - ANSWERS
Six Views of Embodiment - ANSWERS1. Cognition is situated
2. Cognition is time pressured
3. We off-load cognitive work onto the environment
4. The environment is part of the cognitive system
,5. Cognition is for action
6. Off-line cognition is body based
The term 'enactivism' is defined as - ANSWERS"the manner in which a subject of perception
creatively matches its actions to the requirements of its situation".
Important elements of enactivism to hold on to... - ANSWERSAgency
Sensing
Emergence
Agency: - ANSWERSliving beings are autonomous agents that actively generate and maintain
themselves
Sensing: - ANSWERSthe nervous system does not process information in the computationalist
sense, but creates meaning through activity
Emergence: - ANSWERScognition is the exercise of skilful know-how in situated and embodied
action—cognitive structures and processes emerge from recurrent sensorimotor patterns of
perception and action
Embodiment and coupling - ANSWERSRemember the brain is not in a vat—it's in your body!
Causal coupling "locks" us into relations with our immediate environment (usually ones we've
built) The organization of mind is an emergent property of interactions among internal and
external resources
Materials/tools become integrated into the way we think, see, and control—extensions of our
bodies...
We off-load cognitive work onto the environment - ANSWERSFor example—spatial tasks e.g.
Tetris
, Move around a room in order to generate solutions
for where to put furniture
Use gesture to help us think Some of these are epistemic actions
Offline cognition is body-based - ANSWERSWhen decoupled with the environment, the
cognition is still grounded in mechanisms that evolved for interaction with the environment—
that is, mechanisms of sensory processing and motor control.
e.g. mental representations about things that are remote in time and space
Cognition is situated
Cognition is time pressured - ANSWERSSituated cognition takes place in the context of a
real-time environment, and it inherently involves
perception and action.
it must involve interaction with the things that the cognitive activity is about
need to cope with time pressure (but sometimes not necessarily)
We live our lives deeply embedded in material worlds - ANSWERSThese dynamic environments
have direct consequences for our embodied selves.
The majority of our time is spent living in curated and designed ecological niches.
Not only are we directly influencing the environments we are embedded in, but they are also
promoting and constraining certain types of activities
Our activities are situated with respect to our niches - ANSWERSCognition is inseparable from
context, activity, people, culture, language, etc.
The types of cognitive acts, ways of knowing, and ways of creating meaning are situational.
Our environments are populated by myriad "things" that all have affordances, and those
affordances matter.
Answers 2025/2026
Enactivism - ANSWERSargues that cognition arises through a dynamic interaction between an
acting organism and its environment
Distributed Cognition - ANSWERSpredicated on the notion that cognition is distributed across
material, social, and cultural systems that moves beyond the individual as the unit of analysis
Extending the Mind - ANSWERSan exploration of what it would take to extend the cognitive
abilities of the human mind, what this entails, and consideration of the related requirements,
implications, and ethical concerns
Early classic cyborg: rat with implanted rose osmotic pump - ANSWERSpump automatically
injects chemicals into the rat to form a biotechnological control loop, which can be adapted to
unusual conditions (e.g. survival in space)
Norbert Weiner - ANSWERSAutomating anti- aircraft missile system during WW2. Information
and messages are processed via feedback control mechanisms. The information is separable
from the material itself
Claude Shannon - ANSWERSResponsible for calculating the signal to noise ratio of telephone
lines to improve their efficiency. Creates a mathematical theory of information quantified in
bits... Worked with Bell Labs on fire control and cryptography during WW2
Cybernetics via Plato - ANSWERSPlato introduces the concept to philosophy Based on the Greek
'kybernetes', meaning steersman or governor At its core is the notion of 'self-governance'
,W. Ross Ashby - ANSWERSFeedback systems for maintaining homeostasis. The Homeostat is one
of the first devices capable of adapting itself to the environment — 1948
Computationalism/Functionalism - ANSWERSMental states (beliefs, desires, being in pain, etc.)
are constituted solely by their functional role (the causal relations of mental states to other
mental states, sensory inputs, and behavioral outputs)
Cognitivism/Functionalism: puts a computer in our heads + we can put our minds in computers
Cybernetics = - ANSWERS"the scientific study of control and communication in the animal and
the machine."
This is feedback control, which is usually continuous and involves taking measurements using a
sensor and making calculated adjustments to keep the measured variable within a set range by
means of a "final control element"
examples of cybernetic human organisms - ANSWERSvision-enhancing contact lenses
proprio bionic foot
prosthetic leg
artificial kidney
artificial lung
Embodiment = Post-cognitivist = Enactivist - ANSWERS
Six Views of Embodiment - ANSWERS1. Cognition is situated
2. Cognition is time pressured
3. We off-load cognitive work onto the environment
4. The environment is part of the cognitive system
,5. Cognition is for action
6. Off-line cognition is body based
The term 'enactivism' is defined as - ANSWERS"the manner in which a subject of perception
creatively matches its actions to the requirements of its situation".
Important elements of enactivism to hold on to... - ANSWERSAgency
Sensing
Emergence
Agency: - ANSWERSliving beings are autonomous agents that actively generate and maintain
themselves
Sensing: - ANSWERSthe nervous system does not process information in the computationalist
sense, but creates meaning through activity
Emergence: - ANSWERScognition is the exercise of skilful know-how in situated and embodied
action—cognitive structures and processes emerge from recurrent sensorimotor patterns of
perception and action
Embodiment and coupling - ANSWERSRemember the brain is not in a vat—it's in your body!
Causal coupling "locks" us into relations with our immediate environment (usually ones we've
built) The organization of mind is an emergent property of interactions among internal and
external resources
Materials/tools become integrated into the way we think, see, and control—extensions of our
bodies...
We off-load cognitive work onto the environment - ANSWERSFor example—spatial tasks e.g.
Tetris
, Move around a room in order to generate solutions
for where to put furniture
Use gesture to help us think Some of these are epistemic actions
Offline cognition is body-based - ANSWERSWhen decoupled with the environment, the
cognition is still grounded in mechanisms that evolved for interaction with the environment—
that is, mechanisms of sensory processing and motor control.
e.g. mental representations about things that are remote in time and space
Cognition is situated
Cognition is time pressured - ANSWERSSituated cognition takes place in the context of a
real-time environment, and it inherently involves
perception and action.
it must involve interaction with the things that the cognitive activity is about
need to cope with time pressure (but sometimes not necessarily)
We live our lives deeply embedded in material worlds - ANSWERSThese dynamic environments
have direct consequences for our embodied selves.
The majority of our time is spent living in curated and designed ecological niches.
Not only are we directly influencing the environments we are embedded in, but they are also
promoting and constraining certain types of activities
Our activities are situated with respect to our niches - ANSWERSCognition is inseparable from
context, activity, people, culture, language, etc.
The types of cognitive acts, ways of knowing, and ways of creating meaning are situational.
Our environments are populated by myriad "things" that all have affordances, and those
affordances matter.
