Coupling during tasks
Behavioral tasks, structured and otherwise,
Are some mechanisms’ components in the world?
In the previous section, we have discussed several cases of extended mechanisms as constitutive of physiological processes, from cellular to behavioral. These examples show that biological mechanisms underlying common physiological processes whose components participate in activities that cross the boundary between the organism into the world. In all these cases, a manipulation of the state of affairs external to the organism causes changes in the organism itself. We have summarized these by saying that some mechanisms implement an organism-world coupling.
Furthermore, when considering cognition, we must understand neural mechanisms extended in time as well.