Reading, Lecture, and Exam Schedule

Distributed Cognition

Cognitive Science 234

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Reading, Lecture and Assignment Schedule

In the schedule below the two assigned books are designated by acronyms:
CITW = Cognition in the Wild
StM = Supersizing the Mind
Other readings are provided directly via links on this page.
Lectures slides will be posted on this page on or before the day of lecture.
Lecture audio will be available as a podcast at: http://podcast.ucsd.edu
Lecture notes will be available via AS Lecture notes http://lecturenotes.ucsd.edu

Theme 1: Centralized and Distributed Thinking

Thursday, September 23
Introduction and overview of course: course mechanics, basic themes.
What is happening today in cognitive science.
Lecture: Introduction

Tuesday, September 28
The centralized mindset. How we can break free of the centralized mindset. Five heuristics for thinking about decentralized systems.
Readings: "Learning about Life" and "Cognition, Distributed" Preparation for readings

Theme 2: Interactions with the Physical World and Tools

Thursday, September 30
The socio-technical context of ship navigation.
Readings: CITW Introduction and Ch 1 Preparation for reading
Take the plagiarism tutorial and quiz

Tuesday, October 5
Classical Cognitive Science, cognition as computation.Physical symbol system hypothesis, propagation of representations.
Reading: Physical Symbol Systems Preparation for reading

Thursday, October 7
Navigation as Computation, cultural history of western navigation, how culture constructs the task world.
Reading: CITW Ch 2 (pp 49-65), DCog in the cockpit. Preparation for reading

Tuesday, October 12
The cultural basis of activity, Micronesian navigation, the divergence of traditions.
Reading: CITW Ch 2 (pp 65-116) [Mike] Preparation for reading

Thursday, October 14
How tools transform cognitive activities, functional systems, cognitive amplifiers and cognitive artifacts.
Reading: CITW Ch 3 [David] Preparation for reading

Theme 3: Socially Distributed Cognition

Tuesday, October 19
Social Organization affects the cognitive properties of groups, the coordination of action, paradox of the commons, traffic jams, juries, committees, voting schemes, fractal structure of cognition.
Reading: CITW Ch 4 Preparation for reading; CITW Ch 5 Preparation for reading, Emergence of Propositions , ModelingEmergenceOfLanguage [Jeremy, Jess]

Thursday, October 21
The context of learning and Learning in Context
Reading: CITW Ch 6 [Spencer, Bridge] Preparation for reading, CITW Ch 7 [Bridge] Preparation for Reading

Tuesday, October 26
Organizational Learning, unplanned adaptive change, evolution and design of organizations.
Reading: CITW Ch 8 Preparation for reading, Enaction, Imagination, and Insight [Jess, Jeremy]

Thursday, October 28
Midterm Exam for undergrads. No lecture

Theme 4: Embodied Cognition and the Extended Mind Hypothesis

Tuesday, November 2
The body in the world.
Readings: StM Appendix, Introduction, DCogInteraction

Thursday, November 4
The body in the world continued plus a bit of philosophy of science
Readings: StM Ch 1 & Ch 2, MaterialAnchorsForConceptualBlends [Mike]

Tuesday, November 9
The world around the body
Readings: StM Ch 3 & Ch 4, SixViewsOfEmbodiment [Esther]

Thursday, November 11
Veterans Day

Tuesday, November 16
Doubts about extended mind and the cure for cognitive hiccups
Reading: StM Ch 5 & 6.[Jeremy]

Thursday, November 18
Rediscovering the brain and sensorimotor looping, SensorySubstitution [Spencer, Clint]
Reading: StM Ch 7 & 8

Tuesday, November 23
Disentangling embodiment , I see what you are saying
Reading: StM Ch 9 & 10

Thursday, November 25
Thanksgiving Holiday

Theme 5: Ecology of Mind

Tuesday, November 30
Embodiment in the big picture of cognitive science
Readings: SSM Clark; SSM Rupert; SSM Wheeler

Thursday, December 2
Culture and Cognition, what we miss by failing to see cognition as a cultural process.
Readings: CITW Ch 9, SSM Hutchins Preparation for reading