The Pragmatic Turn: Toward Action-Oriented Views in Cognitive Science

by Andreas K. Engel (Editor), Karl J. Friston (Editor), Danica Kragic (Editor)

Overview

Experts from a range of disciplines assess the foundations and implications of a novel action-oriented view of cognition.

Cognitive science is experiencing a pragmatic turn away from the traditional representation-centered framework toward a view that focuses on understanding cognition as “enactive.” This enactive view holds that cognition does not produce models of the world but rather subserves action as it is grounded in sensorimotor skills. In this volume, experts from cognitive science, neuroscience, psychology, robotics, and philosophy of mind assess the foundations and implications of a novel action-oriented view of cognition.

Their contributions and supporting experimental evidence show that an enactive approach to cognitive science enables strong conceptual advances, and the chapters explore key concepts for this new model of cognition. The contributors discuss the implications of an enactive approach for cognitive development; action-oriented models of cognitive processing; action-oriented understandings of consciousness and experience; and the accompanying paradigm shifts in the fields of philosophy, brain science, robotics, and psychology.

Contributors
Moshe Bar, Lawrence W. Barsalov, Olaf Blanke, Jeannette Bohg, Martin V. Butz, Peter F. Dominey, Andreas K. Engel, Judith M. Ford, Karl J. Friston, Chris D. Frith, Shaun Gallagher, Antonia Hamilton, Tobias Heed, Cecilia Heyes, Elisabeth Hill, Matej Hoffmann, Jakob Hohwy, Bernhard Hommel, Atsushi Iriki, Pierre Jacob, Henrik Jörntell, Jürgen Jost, James Kilner, Günther Knoblich, Peter König, Danica Kragic, Miriam Kyselo, Alexander Maye, Marek McGann, Richard Menary, Thomas Metzinger, Ezequiel Morsella, Saskia Nagel, Kevin J. O'Regan, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer, Giovanni Pezzulo, Tony J. Prescott, Wolfgang Prinz, Friedemann Pulvermüller, Robert Rupert, Marti Sanchez-Fibla, Andrew Schwartz, Anil K. Seth, Vicky Southgate, Antonella Tramacere, John K. Tsotsos, Paul F. M. J. Verschure, Gabriella Vigliocco, Gottfried Vosgerau

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262545778
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	06/07/2022
Series:	Strüngmann Forum Reports , #18
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Andreas K. Engel is Professor of Physiology and Head of the Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. Karl J. Friston is Scientific Director of the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging and Professor at Queen Square Institute of Neurology at University College London. Danica Kragic is Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Center for the Study of Autonomous Systems at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.

Table of Contents

The Ernst Strüngmann Forum vii

List of Contributors ix

1 Introduction: Where's the Action? Andreas K. Engel Karl J. Friston Danica Kragic 1

Development, Acquisition, and Adaptation of Action-Oriented Processing

2 The Contribution of Pragmatic Skills to Cognition and Its Development: Common Perspectives and Disagreements Giovanni Pezzulo 19

3 The Development of Action Cognition Antonio F. de C. Hamilton Victoria Southgate Elisabeth Hill 35

4 Acting Up: An Approach to the Study of Cognitive Development Giovanni Pezzulo Gottfried Vosgerau Uta Frith Antonio F. de C. Hamilton Cecilia Heyes Atsushi Iriki Henrik Jörntell Peter König Saskia K. Nagel Pierre-Yves Oudeyer Robert D. Rupert Antonella Tramacere 49

Action-Oriented Models of Cognitive Processing

5 Can Cognition Be Reduced to Action? Processes That Mediate Stimuli and Responses Make Human Action Possible Lawrence W. Barsalou 81

6 The Mindful Filter: Free Energy and Action Karl J. Friston 97

7 Prediction, Agency, and Body Ownership Jakob Hohwy 109

8 Sensorimotor Contingencies and the Dynamical Creation of Structural Relations Underlying Percepts Jürgen Jost 121

9 Language, Action, Interaction: Neuropragmatic Perspectives on Symbols, Meaning, and Context-Dependent Function Friedemann Pulvermüller 139

10 Action-Oriented Models of Cognitive Processing: A Little Less Cogitation, A Little More Action Please James Kilner Bernhard Hommel Moshe Bar Lawrence W. Barsalou Karl J. Friston Jürgen Jost Alexander Maye Thomas Metzinger Friedemann Pulvermüller Marti Sánchez-Fibla John K. Tsotsos Gabriella Vigliocco 159

Action-Oriented Understanding of Consciousness and the Structure of Experience

11 Extending Sensorimotor Contingencies to Cognition Alexander Maye Andreas K. Engel 175

12 What's the Use of Consciousness? How the Stab of Conscience Made Us Really Conscious Chris D. Frith Thomas Metzinger 193

13 Pragmatism and the Pragmatic Turn in Cognitive Science Richard Menary 215

14 Consciousness in Action: The Unconscious Parallel Present Optimized by the Conscious Sequential Projected Future Paul F. M. J. Verschure 235

15 Action-Oriented Understanding of Consciousness and the Structure of Experience Anil K. Seth Paul F. M. J. Verschure Olqf Blanke Martin V. Butz Judith M. Ford Chris D. Frith Pierre Jacob Miriam Kyselo Marek McGann Richard Menary Ezequiel Morsella J. Kevin O'Regan 261

Implications of Action-Oriented Paradigm Shifts in Cognitive Science

16 Do We (or Our Brains) Actively Represent or Enactively Engage with the World? Shaun Gallagher 285

17 Ways of Action Science Wolfgang Prinz 297

18 Learning Action-Perception Cycles in Robotics: A Question of Representations and Embodiment Jeannette Bohg Danica Kragic 309

19 Action-Oriented Cognition and Its Implications: Contextualizing the New Science of Mind Tony J. Prescott Paul F. M. J. Verschure 321

20 Implications of Action-Oriented Paradigm Shifts in Cognitive Science Peter F. Dominey Tony J. Prescott Jeannette Bohg Andreas K. Engel Shaun Gallagher Tobias Heed Matej Hoffmann Günther Knoblich Wolfgang Prinz Andrew Schwartz 333

Bibliography 357

Subject Index 411

What People are Saying About This

Daniel Wolpert

This exciting book provides a coherent framework for an action-oriented view of cognition. By synthesizing recent advances with historical perspectives, it provides an exciting and often provocative perspective for those seeking to understand the workings of the brain.

Andy Clark FBA

Biological brains are devices for selecting the right action at the right time. Such an 'action-oriented' perspective has major implications for the shape and nature of a mature science of the embodied mind. This groundbreaking volume explores those implications from an impressive variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives, including philosophy, robotics, and cognitive and computational neuroscience. A wonderful collection, and essential reading for everyone interested in contemporary thinking about mind and action.

Rick Grush

This volume pushes the boundaries of cutting-edge work on the pragmatic turn. It is no mere collection of papers, but offers quality research from worldwide experts in a systematic and cohesive way.

Endorsement

Biological brains are devices for selecting the right action at the right time. Such an 'action-oriented' perspective has major implications for the shape and nature of a mature science of the embodied mind. This groundbreaking volume explores those implications from an impressive variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives, including philosophy, robotics, and cognitive and computational neuroscience. A wonderful collection, and essential reading for everyone interested in contemporary thinking about mind and action.

—Andy Clark FBA, FRSE, Professor of Logic and Metaphysics, University of Edinburgh

From the Publisher

This exciting book provides a coherent framework for an action-oriented view of cognition. By synthesizing recent advances with historical perspectives, it provides an exciting and often provocative perspective for those seeking to understand the workings of the brain.

—Daniel Wolpert, Professor of Engineering, University of Cambridge

The Pragmatic Turn promises to be a landmark in the rapidly developing science of mind and human experience. Bringing together some of the brightest and the best in this rapidly changing field, Engel, Friston, and Kragic challenge us to rethink the place of action in theories of the mental. The pragmatic turn is one of the major shifts in thought about the mind in recent years; The Pragmatic Turn would serve scholars at all levels, and in a wide range of fields such as psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and philosophy, and is sure to be read and argued about for years to come.

—Alva Noë, Professor of Philosophy, University of California, Berkeley, and the author, most recently, of Strange Tools: Art and Human Nature

This volume pushes the boundaries of cutting-edge work on the pragmatic turn. It is no mere collection of papers, but offers quality research from worldwide experts in a systematic and cohesive way.

—Rick Grush, Professor of Philosophy, University of California, San Diego

Biological brains are devices for selecting the right action at the right time. Such an 'action-oriented' perspective has major implications for the shape and nature of a mature science of the embodied mind. This groundbreaking volume explores those implications from an impressive variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives, including philosophy, robotics, and cognitive and computational neuroscience. A wonderful collection, and essential reading for everyone interested in contemporary thinking about mind and action.

—Andy Clark FBA, FRSE, Professor of Logic and Metaphysics, University of Edinburgh