55 research outputs found
Muscleless Motor synergies and actions without movements : From Motor neuroscience to cognitive robotics
Emerging trends in neurosciences are providing converging evidence that cortical networks in predominantly motor areas are activated in several contexts related to ‘action’ that do not cause any overt movement. Indeed for any complex body, human or embodied robot inhabiting unstructured environments, the dual processes of shaping motor output during action execution and providing the self with information related to feasibility, consequence and understanding of potential actions (of oneself/others) must seamlessly alternate during goal-oriented behaviors, social interactions. While prominent approaches like Optimal Control, Active Inference converge on the role of forward models, they diverge on the underlying computational basis. In this context, revisiting older ideas from motor control like the Equilibrium Point Hypothesis and synergy formation, this article offers an alternative perspective emphasizing the functional role of a ‘plastic, configurable’ internal representation of the body (body-schema) as a critical link enabling the seamless continuum between motor control and imagery. With the central proposition that both “real and imagined” actions are consequences of an internal simulation process achieved though passive goal-oriented animation of the body schema, the computational/neural basis of muscleless motor synergies (and ensuing simulated actions without movements) is explored. The rationale behind this perspective is articulated in the context of several interdisciplinary studies in motor neurosciences (for example, intracranial depth recordings from the parietal cortex, FMRI studies highlighting a shared cortical basis for action ‘execution, imagination and understanding’), animal cognition (in particular, tool-use and neuro-rehabilitation experiments, revealing how coordinated tools are incorporated as an extension to the body schema) and pertinent challenges towards building cognitive robots that can seamlessly “act, interact, anticipate and understand” in unstructured natural living spaces
Computational intelligence approaches to robotics, automation, and control [Volume guest editors]
No abstract available
Computational intelligence approaches to robotics, automation, and control [Volume guest editors]
No abstract available
An integrated theory of language production and comprehension
Currently, production and comprehension are regarded as quite distinct in accounts of language processing. In rejecting this dichotomy, we instead assert that producing and understanding are interwoven, and that this interweaving is what enables people to predict themselves and each other. We start by noting that production and comprehension are forms of action and action perception. We then consider the evidence for interweaving in action, action perception, and joint action, and explain such evidence in terms of prediction. Specifically, we assume that actors construct forward models of their actions before they execute those actions, and that perceivers of others' actions covertly imitate those actions, then construct forward models of those actions. We use these accounts of action, action perception, and joint action to develop accounts of production, comprehension, and interactive language. Importantly, they incorporate well-defined levels of linguistic representation (such as semantics, syntax, and phonology). We show (a) how speakers and comprehenders use covert imitation and forward modeling to make predictions at these levels of representation, (b) how they interweave production and comprehension processes, and (c) how they use these predictions to monitor the upcoming utterances. We show how these accounts explain a range of behavioral and neuroscientific data on language processing and discuss some of the implications of our proposal
Towards a complete multiple-mechanism account of predictive language processing [Commentary on Pickering & Garrod]
Although we agree with Pickering & Garrod (P&G) that prediction-by-simulation and prediction-by-association are important mechanisms of anticipatory language processing, this commentary suggests that they: (1) overlook other potential mechanisms that might underlie prediction in language processing, (2) overestimate the importance of prediction-by-association in early childhood, and (3) underestimate the complexity and significance of several factors that might mediate prediction during language processing
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Cognition in action C-i-A: Rethinking gesture in neuro-atypical young people: A conceptual framework for embodied, embedded, extended and enacted intentionality
The three aims of my interdisciplinary thesis are:
-To develop a conceptual framework for re-thinking the gestures of neuro-atypical young people, that is non-traditional and non-representational
-To develop qualitative analytical tools for the annotation and interpretation of gesture that can be applied inclusively to both neuro-atypical and neuro-typical young people
-To consider the conceptual framework in terms of its theoretical implications and practical applications
Learning to communicate and work with neuro-atypical young people provides the rationale and continued impetus for my work. My approach is influenced by the limited social, physical and communicative experiences of young people with severe speech and motor impairment, due to cerebral palsy (SSMI-CP). CP is described as: a range of non-progressive syndromes of posture and motor impairment. The aetiology is thought to result from damage to the developing central nervous system during gestation or in the neonate. Brain lesions involve the basal ganglia and the cerebellum; both these sites are known to support motor control and integration.
However, gaps in theoretical research and empirical data in the study of corporeal expression in young people with SSMI-CP necessitated the development of both an alternative theoretical framework and new tools. Biological Dynamic Systems Theory is proposed as the best candidate structure for the reconsideration of gesture. It encompasses the global, synthetic and embodied nature of gesture. Gesture is redefined and considered part of an emergent dynamic, complex, non-linear and self-organizing system.
My construct of Cognition-in-Action (C-i-A) is derived from the notion of knowing-as-doing influenced by socio-biological paradigms; it places the Action-Ready-Body centre stage. It is informed by a theoretical synthesis of knowledge from the domains of Philosophy, Science and Technology, including practices in the clinical, technology design and performance arts arenas. The C-i-A is a descriptive, non-computational feature-based framework. Its development centred around two key questions that served as operational starting points: What can gestures reveal about children’s cognition-in-action? and Is there the potential to influence gestural capacity in children? These are supported by my research objectives.
Three case studies are presented that focus on the annotation and interpretative analyses of corporeal exemplars from two adolescent males aged 16.9 and 17.9 years, and one female girl aged 10.7 years. These exemplars were contributed to the Child Gesture Corpus by these young people with SSMI-CP. The Gesture-Action-Entity (GAE) is proposed as a unit of interest for the analysis of procedural, semantic and episodic aspects of our corporeal knowledge. A body-based-action-annotation-system (G-ABAS) and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis methodology is applied for the first time to gesture (G-IPA). These tools facilitate fine-grained corporeal dynamic and narrative gesture feature analyses.
Phenomenal data reveal that these young people have latent resources, capacities and capabilities that they can express corporeally. Iteration of these interpretative findings with the Cognition-in-Action framework allows for the inference of processes that may underlie the strategies they use to achieve such social-motor-cognitive functions. In summary, their Cognition-in-Action is brought-forth, carried forward and has the potential to be culturally embodied.
The utility of C-i-A framework lies in its explanatory power to contribute to a deeper understanding of child gesture. Furthermore, I discuss and illustrate its potential to influence practice in the domains of pedagogy, rehabilitation and the design of future intimate, assistive and perceptually sensitive technologies. Such technologies are increasingly mediating our social interactions. My work offers an ecologically valid alternative to tradition conceptualization of perception, cognition and action. My thesis contributes both new knowledge and carries implications across the domains of movement science, gesture studies and applied participatory performance arts and health practices
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