14,960 research outputs found
Being-in-the-world-with: Presence Meets Social And Cognitive Neuroscience
In this chapter we will discuss the concepts of âpresenceâ (Inner Presence) and âsocial presenceâ (Co-presence) within a cognitive and ecological perspective. Specifically, we claim that the concepts of âpresenceâ and âsocial presenceâ are the possible links between self, action, communication and culture. In the first section we will provide a capsule view of Heideggerâs work by examining the two main features of the Heideggerian concept of âbeingâ: spatiality and âbeing withâ. We argue that different visions from social and cognitive sciences â Situated Cognition, Embodied Cognition, Enactive Approach, Situated Simulation, Covert Imitation - and discoveries from neuroscience â Mirror and Canonical Neurons - have many contact points with this view. In particular, these data suggest that our conceptual system dynamically produces contextualized representations (simulations) that support grounded action in different situations. This is allowed by a common coding â the motor code â shared by perception, action and concepts. This common coding also allows the subject for natively recognizing actions done by other selves within the phenomenological contents. In this picture we argue that the role of presence and social presence is to allow the process of self-identification through the separation between âselfâ and âother,â and between âinternalâ and âexternalâ. Finally, implications of this position for communication and media studies are discussed by way of conclusion
Integration of Action and Language Knowledge: A Roadmap for Developmental Robotics
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The direct perception hypothesis: perceiving the intention of anotherâs action hinders its precise imitation
We argue that imitation is a learning response to unintelligible actions, especially to social conventions. Various strands of evidence are converging on this conclusion, but further progress has been hampered by an outdated theory of perceptual experience. Comparative psychology continues to be premised on the doctrine that humans and nonhuman primates only perceive othersâ physical âsurface behaviorâ, while mental states are perceptually inaccessible. However, a growing consensus in social cognition research accepts the Direct Perception Hypothesis: primarily we see what others aim to do; we do not infer it from their motions. Indeed, physical details are overlooked â unless the action is unintelligible. On this basis we hypothesize that apesâ propensity to copy the goal of an action, rather than its precise means, is largely dependent on its perceived intelligibility. Conversely, children copy means more often than adults and apes because, uniquely, much adult human behavior is completely unintelligible to unenculturated observers due to the pervasiveness of arbitrary social conventions, as exemplified by customs, rituals, and languages. We expect the propensity to imitate to be inversely correlated with the familiarity of cultural practices, as indexed by age and/or socio-cultural competence. The Direct Perception Hypothesis thereby helps to parsimoniously explain the most important findings of imitation research, including childrenâs over-imitation and other species-typical and age-related variations
The Mechanics of Embodiment: A Dialogue on Embodiment and Computational Modeling
Embodied theories are increasingly challenging traditional views of cognition by arguing that conceptual representations that constitute our knowledge are grounded in sensory and motor experiences, and processed at this sensorimotor level, rather than being represented and processed abstractly in an amodal conceptual system. Given the established empirical foundation, and the relatively underspecified theories to date, many researchers are extremely interested in embodied cognition but are clamouring for more mechanistic implementations. What is needed at this stage is a push toward explicit computational models that implement sensory-motor grounding as intrinsic to cognitive processes. In this article, six authors from varying backgrounds and approaches address issues concerning the construction of embodied computational models, and illustrate what they view as the critical current and next steps toward mechanistic theories of embodiment. The first part has the form of a dialogue between two fictional characters: Ernest, the ïżœexperimenterïżœ, and Mary, the ïżœcomputational modellerïżœ. The dialogue consists of an interactive sequence of questions, requests for clarification, challenges, and (tentative) answers, and touches the most important aspects of grounded theories that should inform computational modeling and, conversely, the impact that computational modeling could have on embodied theories. The second part of the article discusses the most important open challenges for embodied computational modelling
Recognizing Speech in a Novel Accent: The Motor Theory of Speech Perception Reframed
The motor theory of speech perception holds that we perceive the speech of
another in terms of a motor representation of that speech. However, when we
have learned to recognize a foreign accent, it seems plausible that recognition
of a word rarely involves reconstruction of the speech gestures of the speaker
rather than the listener. To better assess the motor theory and this
observation, we proceed in three stages. Part 1 places the motor theory of
speech perception in a larger framework based on our earlier models of the
adaptive formation of mirror neurons for grasping, and for viewing extensions
of that mirror system as part of a larger system for neuro-linguistic
processing, augmented by the present consideration of recognizing speech in a
novel accent. Part 2 then offers a novel computational model of how a listener
comes to understand the speech of someone speaking the listener's native
language with a foreign accent. The core tenet of the model is that the
listener uses hypotheses about the word the speaker is currently uttering to
update probabilities linking the sound produced by the speaker to phonemes in
the native language repertoire of the listener. This, on average, improves the
recognition of later words. This model is neutral regarding the nature of the
representations it uses (motor vs. auditory). It serve as a reference point for
the discussion in Part 3, which proposes a dual-stream neuro-linguistic
architecture to revisits claims for and against the motor theory of speech
perception and the relevance of mirror neurons, and extracts some implications
for the reframing of the motor theory
Enkinaesthetic polyphony: the underpinning for first-order languaging
We contest two claims: (1) that language, understood as the processing of abstract symbolic forms, is an instrument of cognition and rational thought, and (2) that conventional notions of turn-taking, exchange structure, and move analysis, are satisfactory as a basis for theorizing communication between living, feeling agents. We offer an enkinaesthetic theory describing the reciprocal affective neuro-muscular dynamical flows and tensions of co- agential dialogical sense-making relations. This âenkinaesthetic dialogueâ is characterised by a preconceptual experientially recursive temporal dynamics forming the deep extended melodies of relationships in time. An understanding of how those relationships work, when we understand and are ourselves understood, when communication falters and conflict arises, will depend on a grasp of our enkinaesthetic intersubjectivity
Predictive Coding for Dynamic Visual Processing: Development of Functional Hierarchy in a Multiple Spatio-Temporal Scales RNN Model
The current paper proposes a novel predictive coding type neural network
model, the predictive multiple spatio-temporal scales recurrent neural network
(P-MSTRNN). The P-MSTRNN learns to predict visually perceived human whole-body
cyclic movement patterns by exploiting multiscale spatio-temporal constraints
imposed on network dynamics by using differently sized receptive fields as well
as different time constant values for each layer. After learning, the network
becomes able to proactively imitate target movement patterns by inferring or
recognizing corresponding intentions by means of the regression of prediction
error. Results show that the network can develop a functional hierarchy by
developing a different type of dynamic structure at each layer. The paper
examines how model performance during pattern generation as well as predictive
imitation varies depending on the stage of learning. The number of limit cycle
attractors corresponding to target movement patterns increases as learning
proceeds. And, transient dynamics developing early in the learning process
successfully perform pattern generation and predictive imitation tasks. The
paper concludes that exploitation of transient dynamics facilitates successful
task performance during early learning periods.Comment: Accepted in Neural Computation (MIT press
Infant and parental pathways to preschool cognitive competence
In a longitudinal study, 62 parentâchild dyads were seen during the second year of life and at 4 years of age. At 12 months, measures included parental sensitive responsiveness during free play, knowledge of cognitiveâcommunicative development in infancy, and level of exploration and disinhibitedness of the infant. At 16 and at 20 months, parental responsiveness and directiveness and infant task mastery behaviour were assessed in constructive play. Quality of verbal guidance of the parent was assessed in a joint attention situation. At 48 months of age, the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities were administered at home, together with dyadic tasks. A path analysis revealed a model in which both verbal abilities and perceptual performance outcome measures were well predicted by the quality of parental verbal guidance in the second year. The latter measure was shown to be independent of the socioeconomic status of parents in the group, but was significantly related with knowledge of infant cognitiveâcommunicative development. Of the measures at the outset of the second year, only socioeconomic status remained as having a direct path at preâschool age. The consistency of the model with other empirical findings underscores parental verbal scaffolding as an important shaper of cognitive development
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