Embodied Embedded Cognition
Encyclopedia
Embodied Embedded Cognition (EEC) is a philosophical
theoretical position in cognitive science
, closely related to situated cognition
, embodied cognition
, embodied cognitive science
and dynamical systems theory
. The theory states that intelligent behaviour emerges out of the interplay between brain
, body and world. The world is not just the 'play-ground' on which the brain is acting. Rather, brain, body and world are equally important factors in the explanation of how particular intelligent behaviours come about in practice. There are concerns about whether EEC constitutes a novel and substantive approach to cognition or whether it is merely a manifestation of frustration with the classical cognitivist
approach.
and embeddedness (or situatedness).
Embodiment
refers to the idea that the bodies' internal milieu (a.o. homeostatic and hormonal states) heavily influences the higher 'cognitive' processes in the brain, presumably via the emotion
al system (see e.g. Antonio Damasio's theory of somatic markers
). To put it simply: the state of your body is a direct factor of importance on the kinds of cognitive processes that may arise in the higher parts of your brain.
Embeddedness refers to the idea that physical interaction between the body and the world strongly constrain the possible behaviours of the organism, which in turn influences (indeed, partly constitutes) the cognitive processes that emerge out of the interaction between organism and world.
The theory is an explicit reaction to the currently dominant cognitivist
paradigm, which states that cognitive systems are essentially computational-representational systems (like computer software), processing input and generating output (behaviour) on the basis of internal information processing. In cognitivism, the causal root of behaviour lies in the 'virtual' processes governed by the software that runs on our brains. The brain is purely the hardware
on which the software is implemented. The body (sensors and actors) are purely input-output devices that are in service of the brain. The world is merely the play-ground (the object) in which the cognitive agent acts.
In contrast, EEC holds that the actual physical processes in body and in body-world interaction partly constitute whatever it is that we call 'the cognitive system' as a whole. Body, world and brain form a system. Together these system-parts 'cause' intelligent behaviour to arise as a system property. Dynamical Systems Theory is a way of modeling behaviour that teams up quite naturally with the theoretical concepts of EEC.
Current discussions include:
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
theoretical position in cognitive science
Cognitive science
Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary scientific study of mind and its processes. It examines what cognition is, what it does and how it works. It includes research on how information is processed , represented, and transformed in behaviour, nervous system or machine...
, closely related to situated cognition
Situated cognition
Situated cognition poses that knowing is inseparable from doing by arguing that all knowledge is situated in activity bound to social, cultural and physical contexts....
, embodied cognition
Embodied cognition
Philosophers, psychologists, cognitive scientists and artificial intelligence researchers who study embodied cognition and the embodied mind believe that the nature of the human mind is largely determined by the form of the human body. They argue that all aspects of cognition, such as ideas,...
, embodied cognitive science
Embodied cognitive science
Embodied Cognitive Science is an interdisciplinary field of research, the aim of which is to explain the mechanisms underlying intelligent behavior...
and dynamical systems theory
Dynamical systems theory
Dynamical systems theory is an area of applied mathematics used to describe the behavior of complex dynamical systems, usually by employing differential equations or difference equations. When differential equations are employed, the theory is called continuous dynamical systems. When difference...
. The theory states that intelligent behaviour emerges out of the interplay between brain
Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
, body and world. The world is not just the 'play-ground' on which the brain is acting. Rather, brain, body and world are equally important factors in the explanation of how particular intelligent behaviours come about in practice. There are concerns about whether EEC constitutes a novel and substantive approach to cognition or whether it is merely a manifestation of frustration with the classical cognitivist
Cognitivism (psychology)
In psychology, cognitivism is a theoretical framework for understanding the mind that came into usage in the 1950s. The movement was a response to behaviorism, which cognitivists said neglected to explain cognition...
approach.
Embodiment and Embeddedness
EEC is divided into two aspects: embodimentEmbodiment
Embodied or embodiment may refer to:in psychology and philosophy,*Embodied cognition , a position in cognitive science and the philosophy of mind emphasizing the role that the body plays in shaping the mind...
and embeddedness (or situatedness).
Embodiment
Embodiment
Embodied or embodiment may refer to:in psychology and philosophy,*Embodied cognition , a position in cognitive science and the philosophy of mind emphasizing the role that the body plays in shaping the mind...
refers to the idea that the bodies' internal milieu (a.o. homeostatic and hormonal states) heavily influences the higher 'cognitive' processes in the brain, presumably via the emotion
Emotion
Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...
al system (see e.g. Antonio Damasio's theory of somatic markers
Somatic markers hypothesis
The somatic-marker hypothesis proposes a mechanism by which emotional processes can guide behavior, particularly decision-making. This hypothesis has been formulated by Antonio Damasio.-Hypothesis:...
). To put it simply: the state of your body is a direct factor of importance on the kinds of cognitive processes that may arise in the higher parts of your brain.
Embeddedness refers to the idea that physical interaction between the body and the world strongly constrain the possible behaviours of the organism, which in turn influences (indeed, partly constitutes) the cognitive processes that emerge out of the interaction between organism and world.
The theory is an explicit reaction to the currently dominant cognitivist
Cognitivism (psychology)
In psychology, cognitivism is a theoretical framework for understanding the mind that came into usage in the 1950s. The movement was a response to behaviorism, which cognitivists said neglected to explain cognition...
paradigm, which states that cognitive systems are essentially computational-representational systems (like computer software), processing input and generating output (behaviour) on the basis of internal information processing. In cognitivism, the causal root of behaviour lies in the 'virtual' processes governed by the software that runs on our brains. The brain is purely the hardware
Hardware
Hardware is a general term for equipment such as keys, locks, hinges, latches, handles, wire, chains, plumbing supplies, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts. Household hardware is typically sold in hardware stores....
on which the software is implemented. The body (sensors and actors) are purely input-output devices that are in service of the brain. The world is merely the play-ground (the object) in which the cognitive agent acts.
In contrast, EEC holds that the actual physical processes in body and in body-world interaction partly constitute whatever it is that we call 'the cognitive system' as a whole. Body, world and brain form a system. Together these system-parts 'cause' intelligent behaviour to arise as a system property. Dynamical Systems Theory is a way of modeling behaviour that teams up quite naturally with the theoretical concepts of EEC.
Current discussions include:
- Is EEC really a (positive) theory of itself, or merely a bunch of complaints about what is wrong about (a too extreme version of) cognitivism?
- Is EEC too 'descriptive', instead of really explaining anything about cognition?
- How can EEC explain linguisticNatural languageIn the philosophy of language, a natural language is any language which arises in an unpremeditated fashion as the result of the innate facility for language possessed by the human intellect. A natural language is typically used for communication, and may be spoken, signed, or written...
processes and processes of explicit conscious reasoning? - What would be the most informative empirical hypotheses, starting from an EEC perspective?
- Can we use traditional methods (stimulus-response paradigms) of experimental psychologyExperimental psychologyExperimental psychology is a methodological approach, rather than a subject, and encompasses varied fields within psychology. Experimental psychologists have traditionally conducted research, published articles, and taught classes on neuroscience, developmental psychology, sensation, perception,...
to test EEC hypotheses?
Theorists
Theorists that inspired the EEC programme (but might not necessarily adhere to the above position) include:- Randall BeerRandall BeerRandall D. Beer is a professor of cognitive science, computer science, and informatics at Indiana University. He was previously at Case Western Reserve University. His primary research interest is in understanding how coordinated behavior arises from the neurodynamics of an animal's nervous...
- Valentino BraitenbergValentino BraitenbergValentino Braitenberg is an Italian neuroscientist and cyberneticist...
- Rodney BrooksRodney BrooksRodney Allen Brooks is the former Panasonic professor of robotics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since 1986 he has authored a series of highly influential papers which have inaugurated a fundamental shift in artificial intelligence research...
- William ClanceyWilliam ClanceyWilliam J. Clancey is a cognitive scientist and author of the book Situated Cognition, a major contribution to the development of embodied embedded cognition a recent alternative to the previously dominant cognitivist paradigm in cognitive science.Clancey is a Senior Research Scientist in the...
- Andy ClarkAndy ClarkAndy Clark is a Professor of Philosophy and Chair in Logic and Metaphysics at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Before this he was director of the Cognitive Science Program at Indiana University in Bloomington. Previously, he taught at Washington University at St. Louis and the University...
- Paul DourishPaul DourishPaul Dourish is a computer scientist best known for his work at the intersection of computer science and social science. He is a professor at the University of California, Irvine, where he joined the faculty in 2000.- Life and Work :...
- Gerald EdelmanGerald EdelmanGerald Maurice Edelman is an American biologist who shared the 1972 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work with Rodney Robert Porter on the immune system. Edelman's Nobel Prize-winning research concerned discovery of the structure of antibody molecules...
- Shaun GallagherShaun GallagherShaun Gallagher is an American philosopher. He holds the Lillian and Morrie Moss Chair of Excellence in Philosophy at the University of Memphis...
- Pim HaselagerPim HaselagerWillem F.G. "Pim" Haselager is a Dutch philosopher-researcher in the philosophy of cognitive science. In the Netherlands he is part of a growing minority of scientists and philosophers advocating an embodied embedded perspective on cognition and intelligent behavior. Pim lives in Groesbeek and...
- Susan HurleySusan HurleySusan Lynn Hurley was appointed professor in the department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick in 1994, professor of philosophy at Bristol University from 2006 and the first woman fellow of All Souls, Oxford. She wrote on practical philosophy as well as on...
- Fred Keijzer
- David KirshDavid KirshDavid Kirsh is a Canadian cognitive scientist, and Professor at University of California, San Diego , where he heads the Interactive Cognition Lab.- Biography :He received his BA from the University of Toronto in 1976 and his D.Phil...
- Alva NoëAlva NoëAlva Noë is an externalist philosopher and university professor. The main focus of his work is the theory of perception and consciousness...
- Mark RowlandsMark RowlandsMark Rowlands is a Welsh writer and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Miami.-Life and Work:Mark Rowlands was born in Newport, Wales and began his undergraduate degree at Manchester University in engineering before changing to philosophy...
- Humberto MaturanaHumberto MaturanaHumberto Maturana is a Chilean biologist and philosopher. He is considered a member of the second wave of cybernetics, known for developing a theory of autopoiesis about the nature of reflexive feedback control in living systems.- Biography :After completing secondary school at the Liceo Manuel de...
- Maurice Merleau-PontyMaurice Merleau-PontyMaurice Merleau-Ponty was a French phenomenological philosopher, strongly influenced by Karl Marx, Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger in addition to being closely associated with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir...
- Martin HeideggerMartin HeideggerMartin Heidegger was a German philosopher known for his existential and phenomenological explorations of the "question of Being."...
- Evan ThompsonEvan ThompsonEvan Thompson is professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto. He writes about cognitive science, phenomenology, and the philosophy of mind....
- Jacob Von Uexküll
- Francisco VarelaFrancisco VarelaFrancisco Javier Varela García , was a Chilean biologist, philosopher and neuroscientist who, together with his teacher Humberto Maturana, is best known for introducing the concept of autopoiesis to biology.-Biography:...
- Tom Ziemke