Embodied cognitive science with Professor Tom Froese

What is the mind? Traditionally, cognitive science has approached this question in terms of the hypothesis of a physical symbol system: the mind/brain is a computer, and cognition is computation. More recent approaches to cognitive science have questioned the adequacy of this hypothesis and have begun to advance alternative frameworks that substantially broaden the basis of the mind, leading to the rise of embodied, embedded, extended, and enactive (4E) cognition. These approaches develop in different ways a shared core commitment to the claim that agent-environment interaction is a foundational part of cognition, rather than just a secondary product of cognition. Together these approaches are broadly known as embodied cognitive science.

In this episode we cover the possibilities and limitations of considering brains as isolated computers, the alternative positions adopted in embodied cognitive science, and the experimental setups used to make sense of agent-environment interactions. We also move beyond the lab to consider the implications of this work on wider culture.

To learn more, visit the ECSU website.