reflexio

Reflexio is a term used in philosophy, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence to describe a form of reflexive processing in which a system examines and updates its own beliefs, decisions, or procedures. Drawing from the Latin reflexio meaning "a bending back" or "reflection," the concept emphasizes self-examination rather than simple response to stimuli.

In humans, reflexio overlaps with metacognition and self-regulation, involving monitoring of cognitive states, evaluating certainty, and revising strategies. In artificial systems, reflexio denotes mechanisms that enable self-monitoring, error detection, and policy adjustment without external input. Implementations typically combine meta-learning, self-diagnostic modules, and interpretable feedback loops that allow an agent to simulate outcomes, assess confidence, and adapt.

Applications span education, where reflexio supports deliberate practice, to reliable AI, where reflexio improves safety and accountability by enabling systems to surface uncertainties or revert to safer strategies. Research often focuses on measuring reflexio through tasks that require self-justification, ambiguity handling, or error-correction performance, as well as studying neurocognitive correlates in humans.

Related terms include reflexivity, metacognition, self-regulation, and self-monitoring. While the term reflexio appears in various interdisciplinary debates, its precise definition and scope vary across disciplines, and it remains a topic of ongoing theoretical and empirical work.