Living Systems in Jainism: A Scientific Study: 09.10 ►Embodied Cognition

The central claim of embodied cognition is that an organism's sensorimotor capacities, body and environment not only play an important role in cognition, but that the manner in which these elements interact enables particular cognitive capacities to develop and determines the precise nature of those capacities. "To say that cognition is embodied means that it arises from bodily interactions with the world. The contemporary notion of embodied cognition stands in contrast to the prevailing cognitivist stance, which sees the mind as a device to manipulate symbols and is thus concerned with the formal rules and processes by which symbols appropriately represent the world."

"Embodied cognition theorists contend that thought results from an organism's ability to act in its environment. More precisely, what this means is that as an organism learns to control its own movements and perform certain actions, it develops an understanding of its own basic perceptual and motor-based abilities, which serve as an essential first step toward acquiring more complex cognitive processes, such as language. Thus, goal-directed actions are described as primary for embodied theorists because these theorists argue that thought and language would not occur without the initial performance of these actions. In essence, these low-level actions and movements are viewed as necessary for higher cognitive capacities to develop." Thought grows from action and activity is the engine of change.

"Most embodied cognition theorists believe that the embodiment of an organism simultaneously limits and prescribes the types of cognitive processes that are available to it. In other words, the particular way in which an organism is embodied (e.g., whether it has feet, fins, eyes, a tail, etc.) will influence how it performs goal-directed actions in the world and the particular sensorimotor experiences connected with these actions will serve as the basis for category and concept formation."

"In general, environmental factors are very important because they can influence not only what options are available to a particular organism, but also why an organism might choose one option over another when performing a particular goal-directed activity. For instance, weather conditions, the size of the ball, the rules of the game, and whether or not an individual has any broken limbs will most likely factor into their decision to throw or kick the ball. Yet, all of this person's past experiences with an object in these varied activity-based contexts will in some way contribute to their current understanding of the activity. The individual's understanding of these past experiences is directly informed by the kinds of sensorimotor experiences their form of embodiment allows. The various sensorimotor experiences that occur while performing an action in a particular environmental context further specify the type of categories/concepts the organism is capable of forming."

"In conclusion, the way in which we are embodied determines the type of action patterns we can perform; these action patterns shape our cognitive functions (i.e., the way in which we can conceptualize and categorize). This is because most embodied cognition theorists argue that category and concept formation is made possible and constrained by the particular sensorimotor experiences of the organism. It is in this sense that the form of embodiment partly determines the kind of cognitive processes available to the organism. Many researchers agree with the theoretical assumption that the form of embodiment partly determines the cognitive processes available to the organism, but they still debate precisely how this occurs."

"Based on the analysis of the above theoretical assumptions of embodied cognition, it is now possible to directly contrast the central themes of the embodied cognition research program with those commonly expressed in the classicist/cognitivist research program:

Although most embodied cognition accounts do adhere to the theoretical assumptions outlined above, it is important to recognize that this rapidly changing research program encompasses a diverse group of theorists, who are continuing to refine and revise the preliminary theoretical assumptions associated with the embodied cognition view. The ultimate claim of embodied theorists is that new insights into previously unanswered questions concerning cognitive development will be attained if cognitive scientists re-orient their approach and conduct research in a manner that acknowledges the crucial links existing among an organism's brain, body, and world. "Some researchers argue that it would be a mistake to completely dispense with the theoretical tools associated with classicist/cognitivist models, especially since it is unclear if embodied cognition accounts will be able to adequately explain higher level processes (e.g., meta-cognitive states such as the ability to think about one's own thoughts) without invoking on some level a computational or representational analysis. "