Where's the action? The pragmatic turn in cognitive science
TL;DR: It is suggested that cognition should not be understood as providing models of the world, but as subserving action and being grounded in sensorimotor coupling, and cognitive processes and their underlying neural activity patterns should be studied primarily with respect to their role in action generation.
About: This article is published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences.The article was published on 2013-05-01. It has received 337 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Motor cognition & Cognition.
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Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose that the brain produces an internal representation of the world, and the activation of this internal representation is assumed to give rise to the experience of seeing, but it leaves unexplained how the existence of such a detailed internal representation might produce visual consciousness.
Abstract: Many current neurophysiological, psychophysical, and psychological approaches to vision rest on the idea that when we see, the brain produces an internal representation of the world. The activation of this internal representation is assumed to give rise to the experience of seeing. The problem with this kind of approach is that it leaves unexplained how the existence of such a detailed internal representation might produce visual consciousness. An alternative proposal is made here. We propose that seeing is a way of acting. It is a particular way of exploring the environment. Activity in internal representations does not generate the experience of seeing. The outside world serves as its own, external, representation. The experience of seeing occurs when the organism masters what we call the governing laws of sensorimotor contingency. The advantage of this approach is that it provides a natural and principled way of accounting for visual consciousness, and for the differences in the perceived quality of sensory experience in the different sensory modalities. Several lines of empirical evidence are brought forward in support of the theory, in particular: evidence from experiments in sensorimotor adaptation, visual \"filling in,\" visual stability despite eye movements, change blindness, sensory substitution, and color perception.
2,271 citations
TL;DR: The Computational Brain this paper provides a broad overview of neuroscience and computational theory, followed by a study of some of the most recent and sophisticated modeling work in the context of relevant neurobiological research.
1,472 citations
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TL;DR: It is argued that understanding cognitive processes will need to consider the (inter)actions in the natural environment and that in cognitive tasks some independent components systematically relate to sensory processing as well as to action execution.
Abstract: In this presentation, we discuss embodied cognition in the human brain from perspectives of spatial cognition, sensorimotor processing, face processing, and mobile EEG recordings. The argument is based upon experimental evidence gathered from five separate studies. First, we focus on spatial representations and demonstrate that, given time pressure, information on the spatial orientation of houses, independent of a participant's own location, is best retrieved when it directly relates to potential actions. Thus providing evidence that even spatial representations code information in a manner directly related to the action. Next, we discuss the concept of representations as such. Using the example of face processing in the human visual system, we argue that the concept of representations should be confined to cases where neuronal activity contains explicit information on the variable of interest and, in turn, that this variable explains the complete part of the explainable variance, i.e. reaches the noise limit. Next, to push towards an investigation of cognition under natural conditions we present a benchmark test of mobile and research-grade EEG systems. Specifically, we demonstrate that the variance over systems contributes a significant part to the total variance of recorded event related potentials. As a next step, using Independent Component Analysis of EEG data we demonstrate that in cognitive tasks some independent components systematically relate to sensory processing as well as to action execution. This supports theories of the common coding theory and, thus, a mechanistic part of the embodied cognition framework. Finally, we demonstrate a real world application investigating face processing in the form of the N170 event related potential during natural visual exploration in a fully mobile setup. This technique allows investigating the physiological basis of cognitive processes under real world conditions. In this presentation we argue that understanding cognitive processes will need to consider the (inter)actions in the natural environment.
555 citations
Cites background from "Where's the action? The pragmatic t..."
...In the search for a theory of cognition, recent years have witnessed a paradigm shift from a brain-centered focus to an approach emphasizing the role of embodiment [1]....
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01 Mar 1994
198 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that understanding how brains change across development requires understanding the interplay between behavior and brain networks: changing bodies and activities modify the statistics of inputs to the brain; these changing inputs mold brain networks; and these networks, in turn, promote further change in behavior and input.
187 citations
References
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Book•
01 Jan 1979TL;DR: The relationship between Stimulation and Stimulus Information for visual perception is discussed in detail in this article, where the authors also present experimental evidence for direct perception of motion in the world and movement of the self.
Abstract: Contents: Preface. Introduction. Part I: The Environment To Be Perceived.The Animal And The Environment. Medium, Substances, Surfaces. The Meaningful Environment. Part II: The Information For Visual Perception.The Relationship Between Stimulation And Stimulus Information. The Ambient Optic Array. Events And The Information For Perceiving Events. The Optical Information For Self-Perception. The Theory Of Affordances. Part III: Visual Perception.Experimental Evidence For Direct Perception: Persisting Layout. Experiments On The Perception Of Motion In The World And Movement Of The Self. The Discovery Of The Occluding Edge And Its Implications For Perception. Looking With The Head And Eyes. Locomotion And Manipulation. The Theory Of Information Pickup And Its Consequences. Part IV: Depiction.Pictures And Visual Awareness. Motion Pictures And Visual Awareness. Conclusion. Appendixes: The Principal Terms Used in Ecological Optics. The Concept of Invariants in Ecological Optics.
21,493 citations
Book•
01 Jun 1972TL;DR: The aim of the book is to advance the understanding of how humans think by putting forth a theory of human problem solving, along with a body of empirical evidence that permits assessment of the theory.
Abstract: : The aim of the book is to advance the understanding of how humans think. It seeks to do so by putting forth a theory of human problem solving, along with a body of empirical evidence that permits assessment of the theory. (Author)
10,770 citations
TL;DR: A neurophysiological mechanism appears to play a fundamental role in both action understanding and imitation, and those properties specific to the human mirror-neuron system that might explain the human capacity to learn by imitation are stressed.
Abstract: A category of stimuli of great importance for primates, humans in particular, is that formed by actions done by other individuals. If we want to survive, we must understand the actions of others. Furthermore, without action understanding, social organization is impossible. In the case of humans, there is another faculty that depends on the observation of others' actions: imitation learning. Unlike most species, we are able to learn by imitation, and this faculty is at the basis of human culture. In this review we present data on a neurophysiological mechanism--the mirror-neuron mechanism--that appears to play a fundamental role in both action understanding and imitation. We describe first the functional properties of mirror neurons in monkeys. We review next the characteristics of the mirror-neuron system in humans. We stress, in particular, those properties specific to the human mirror-neuron system that might explain the human capacity to learn by imitation. We conclude by discussing the relationship between the mirror-neuron system and language.
6,747 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1991TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the role of reflection in the analysis of experience, experimentation and experiential analysis, and define the enactive approach, enactive cognitive science.
Abstract: Part 1 The departing ground: a fundamental circularity - in the mind of the reflective scientist - an already-given condition, what is cognitive science?, cognitive science within the circle, the theme of this book what do we mean "Human Experience"? - science and the phenomenological tradition, the breakdown of phenomenology, a non-western philosophical tradition, examining experience with a method - mindfulness/awareness, the role of reflection in the analysis of experience, experimentation and experiential analysis. Part 2 Varieties of cognitivism: symbols - the cognitivist hypothesis - the foundational cloud, defining the cognitivist hypothesis, manifestations of cognitivism, cognitivism and human experience, experience and the computational mind the I of the storm - what do we mean by "Self"?, looking for a self in the aggregates, momentariness and the brain, the aggregates without a self. Part 3 Varieties of emergence: emergent properties and connectionism - self-organization - the roots of an alternative, the connectionist strategy, emergence and self-organization, connectionism today, neuronal emergences, exeunt the symbols, linking symbols and emergence selfless minds - societies of mind, the society of object relations, co-dependent arising, basic element analysis, mindfulness and freedom, selfless minds, divided agents, minding the world. Part 4 Steps to a middle way: the Cartesian anxiety - a sense of dissatisfaction, representation revisited, the Cartesian anxiety, steps to a middle way, enaction - embodied cognition - recovering common sense, self-organization revisited, colour as a study case, cognition as embodied action, the retreat into natural selection evolutionary path making and natural drift - adaptationism - an idea in transition, a horizon of multiple mechanisms, beyond the best in evolution and cognition, evolution - ecology and development in congruence, lessons from evolution as natural drift, defining the enactive approach, enactive cognitive science. Part 5 Worlds without ground: the middle way - evocations of groundlessness, Nagarjuna and the Madhyamika tradition, the two truths, groundlessness in contemporary thought laying down a path in walking - science and experience in circulation, nihilism and the need for planetary thinking, Nishitani Keiji, ethics and human transformation. Appendices: meditation terminology categories of experiential events used in mindfulness/awareness works on Buddhism and mindfulness/awareness.
4,505 citations