The graduate Distributed Cogition course runs in parallel with the undergraduate course COGS102A. This page provides the schedule of readings for the graduate course. It includes all of the readings assigned to the undergrads plus nine additional articles that are not assigned to the undergrads. 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 or before the day of lecture.
Lecture audio will be available as a podcast at: http://podcast.ucsd.edu

Student performance will be evaluated via a term paper and participation in the weekly seminar. Guidelines for the term paper.

Thursday, September 24
Introduction and overview of course: course mechanics, basic themes.
What is happening today in cognitive science.
Lecture: Introduction

Tuesday, September 29  
The centralized mindset. How we can break free of the centralized mindset. Five heuristics for thinking about decentralized systems.
Readings: "Learning about Life", "Cognition, Distributed" and "Cognitive Ecology" Preparation for readings
Lecture: Centralized mindset

Thursday, October 1  
The socio-technical context of ship navigation.
Readings: CITW Introduction and Ch 1 Preparation for reading
Lecture: CITW Ch 1

Tuesday, October 6
Classical Cognitive Science, cognition as computation.Physical symbol system hypothesis, propagation of representations.
Reading: Computing in CognitiveScience Preparation for reading
Lecture: Formal Systems

Thursday, October 8
Navigation as Computation, cultural history of western navigation, how culture constructs the task world.
Reading: CITW Ch 2 (pp 49-65) "Distributed cognition in the cockpit" Preparation for reading
Lecture: Computational Perspective on Navigation:Western Navigation

Tuesday, October 13
The cultural basis of activity, Micronesian navigation, the divergence of traditions.
Reading: CITW Ch 2 (pp 65-116) Preparation for reading
Lecture: Computational Perspective on Navigation:Micronesian Navigation

Thursday, October 15
How tools transform cognitive activities, functional systems, cognitive amplifiers and cognitive artifacts.
Reading: CITW Ch 3, Preparation for reading
Lecture: Cognitive Ecology of Navigation

Tuesday, October 20
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 from talk and action in a shared world"
Lecture: Social Organization of Distributed Cognition
Seminar seeds: Erica, CitW Ch3; Linda, Emergence of propositions

Thursday, October 22 
The context of learning. The role of skepticism in science.
Reading: CITW Ch 6, Cole "A re-medial approach to reading instruction" Preparation for reading
Lecture: Social Organization of Distributed Interpretation Formation

Tuesday, October 27  
Learning in Context
Reading: CITW Ch 7 Preparation for Reading
Lecture: Learning a procedure
Seminar seeds: Jamie & Lauren, CitW Ch6 & Cole; Nancy, CitW Ch7

Thursday, October 29  
Organizational Learning, unplanned adaptive change, evolution and design of organizations.
Reading: CITW Ch 8 Preparation for reading
Lectures: Organizational Learning, Thinking with the Body

Tuesday, November 3
The body in the world.
Readings: StM Appendix, Introduction, Ch1 & Ch2; Distributed Cognition perspective on interaction"
Lecture:
Seminar seeds: Tara & Patrick, CitW Ch8; Nis, StM Ch 1-2; John, Dcog interaction

Thursday, November 5  
The world around the body
Readings: StM Ch 3 & Ch 4," [Epistemic and pragmatic action" "Material Anchors for Conceptual Blends"
Lecture:

Tuesday, November 10
Doubts about extended mind
Reading: StM Ch 5, Six views of embodied cognition. Preparation for reading
Lecture: Six Views
Seminar seeds: Tyler, Epistemic Action; Molly, Material anchors; Erica, Stm Ch 5

Thursday, November 12
The cure for cognitive hiccups
Reading: StM Ch 6, "I see what you are saying"
Lecture:

Tuesday, November 17
Rediscovering the brain
Reading: StM Ch 7; "Critique of Pure Vision"
Lecture:
Seminar seeds: Whitney, StM Ch 6-7; Tara, I see what you are saying

Thursday, November 19
Sensorimotor looping
Reading: StM Ch 8, Sensory Substitution
Lecture:

Tuesday, November 24
Disentangling embodiment
Reading: StM Ch 9 & 10, "Enaction, imagination, and insight"
Lecture:
Seminar seeds: Dov, Sensory Substitution; Galit, StM Ch 9-10; Eva, Enaction

Thursday, November 26
Thanksgiving Holiday

Tuesday, December 1
Embodiment in the big picture of cognitive science
Readings: "Modeling the Emergence of Language" "Collaborative Construction of Multimodal Utterances"
Lecture:
Seminar seeds: Tyler, Modeling emergence; Lauren, Collaborative construction; John, CitW Ch 9

Thursday, December 3
Culture and Cognition, what we miss by failing to see cognition as a cultural process. Putting Distributed Cognition in historical perspective, the holy grail of cognitive science.
Preparation for reading
Readings: CITW Ch 9
Lecture: Overview of Distributed Cognition