Making Enactivism Even More Embodied
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Reexamining Enactivism
Aporia vol. 23 no. 1—2013 Reexamining Enactivism GREGORY BLAKEMORE n Action in Perception and “Experience without the Head,” Alva Noë argues that what is perceived emerges as one actively moves about in Ithe environment. Moreover, the role of action is directly relevant for perceptual content, as it is enacted into existence. Noë’s goal is to devel- op an account of perceptual experience that supports an externalism in which perceptual experience does not need to be explained in terms of the brain, but includes external processes (Block, 2005; Hurley, 1998; Noë, 2004). He refers to this account as the “sensorimotor account of percep- tion” (2004). More specifically for Noë, sensorimotor contingencies lead to an acquisition of sensorimotor knowledge. Sensorimotor knowledge is an intuitive knowledge that underwrites a perceiver’s understanding of how movement affects changes in sensation (O’Regan and Noë, Visual; Noë, 2004). Noë admits that he lacks a clear articulation of the precise nature of sensorimotor contingencies,1 which undercuts the adequacy of his model. Sensorimotor contingencies and sensorimotor knowledge require a causal 1 Noë acknowledges: “On the theory presented here, to have a sensation is to exercise one’s mas- tery of the relevant sensorimotor contingencies and in this sense to be ‘attuned’ to the ways in which one’s movements will affect the character of input. We characterize attunement as a form of practical knowledge. These terms are vague and may be somewhat confusing” (O’Regan and Noë, Synthese, 84). Gregory Blakemore is pursuing a Bachelor’s in Philosophy from Portland State Uni- versity. His areas of interest include philosophy of mind and 19th and 20th century continental philosophy. -
Self-Deception Within the Predictive Coding Framework
Self-deception within the predictive coding framework Iuliia Pliushch Mainz 2016 Table of contents Table of contents __________________________________________________ ii List of figures ____________________________________________________ iv List of tables _____________________________________________________ v Introduction ______________________________________________________ 1 1 Review: Desiderata for the concept of self-deception _________________ 4 1.1 Motivation debate: intentionalists vs. deflationary positions __________ 5 1.1.1 Intentionalist positions ________________________________________________ 5 1.1.2 Deflationary positions _______________________________________________ 24 1.1.3 Constraints on a satisfactory theory of self-deception ______________________ 51 1.2 “Product” or kind of misrepresentation debate ____________________ 62 1.2.1 Belief (Van Leeuwen) vs. avowal (Audi) ________________________________ 66 1.2.2 Belief decomposed: regarding-as-true-stances (Funkhouser) and degrees of belief (Lynch, Porcher) ___________________________________________________________ 69 1.2.3 Dispositionalism (Bach, Schwitzgebel) vs. constructivism (Michel) __________ 73 1.2.4 Pretense (Gendler) __________________________________________________ 76 1.2.5 Emotional micro-takings (Borge) ______________________________________ 78 1.2.6 Self-deceptive process: belief formation or narrative construction? ___________ 82 1.2.7 Non-doxastic conception of self-deception _______________________________ 88 1.3 Classic psychological experiments -
Bootstrap Hell: Perceptual Racial Biases in a Predictive Processing Framework
Bootstrap Hell: Perceptual Racial Biases in a Predictive Processing Framework Zachariah A. Neemeh ([email protected]) Department of Philosophy, University of Memphis Memphis, TN 38152 USA Abstract This enables us to extract patterns from ambiguous signals Predictive processing is transforming our understanding of the and establish hypotheses about how the world works. brain in the 21st century. Whereas in the 20th century we The training signals that we get from the world are, understood the brain as a passive organ taking in information however, biased in all the same unsightly ways that our from the world, today we are beginning to reconceptualize it societies are biased: by race, gender, socioeconomic status, as an organ that actively creates and tests hypotheses about its nationality, and sexual orientation. The problem is more world. The promised revolution of predictive processing than a mere sampling bias. Our societies are replete with extends beyond cognitive neuroscience, however, and is prejudice biases that shape the ways we think, act, and beginning to make waves in the philosophy of perception. Andy Clark has written that predictive processing creates a perceive. Indeed, a similar problem arises in machine “bootstrap heaven,” enabling the brain to develop complex learning applications when they are inadvertently trained on models of the world from limited data. I argue that the same socially biased data (Avery, 2019; N. T. Lee, 2018). The principles also create a “bootstrap hell,” wherein prejudice basic principle in operation here is “garbage in, garbage biases inherent in our inegalitarian societies result in out”: a predictive system that is trained on socially biased permanent perceptual modifications. -
Predictive Processing As a Systematic Basis for Identifying the Neural Correlates of Consciousness
Predictive processing as a systematic basis for identifying the neural correlates of consciousness Jakob Hohwya ([email protected]) Anil Sethb ([email protected]) Abstract The search for the neural correlates of consciousness is in need of a systematic, principled foundation that can endow putative neural correlates with greater predictive and explanatory value. Here, we propose the predictive processing framework for brain function as a promis- ing candidate for providing this systematic foundation. The proposal is motivated by that framework’s ability to address three general challenges to identifying the neural correlates of consciousness, and to satisfy two constraints common to many theories of consciousness. Implementing the search for neural correlates of consciousness through the lens of predictive processing delivers strong potential for predictive and explanatory value through detailed, systematic mappings between neural substrates and phenomenological structure. We con- clude that the predictive processing framework, precisely because it at the outset is not itself a theory of consciousness, has significant potential for advancing the neuroscience of consciousness. Keywords Active inference ∙ Consciousness ∙ Neural correlates ∙ Prediction error minimization This article is part of a special issue on “The Neural Correlates of Consciousness”, edited by Sascha Benjamin Fink. 1 Introduction The search for the neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs) has now been under- way for several decades (Crick & Koch, 1990b). Several interesting and suggestive aCognition & Philosophy Lab, Monash University bSackler Center for Consciousness Science and School of Engineering and Informatics, University of Sussex; Azrieli Program in Brain, Mind, and Consciousness Toronto Hohwy, J., & Seth, A. (2020). Predictive processing as a systematic basis for identifying the neural correlates of consciousness. -
To Err and Err, but Less and Less
TOERRANDERR,BUTLESSANDLESS Predictive coding and affective value in perception, art, and autism sander van de cruys Dissertation offered to obtain the degree of Doctor of Psychology (PhD) supervisor: Prof. Dr. Johan Wagemans Laboratory of Experimental Psychology Faculty of Psychology and Pedagogical Sciences KU Leuven 2014 © 2014, Sander Van de Cruys Cover image created by randall casaer. Title adapted from the poem The road to wisdom by the Danish scientist piet hein. Back cover image from Les Songes Drolatiques de Pantagruel (1565) attributed to françois desprez, but based on the fabulous, chimerical characters invented by françois ra- belais. Typographical style based on classicthesis developed by andré miede (GNU General Public Licence). Typeset in LATEX. abstract The importance of prediction or expectation in the functioning of the mind is appreciated at least since the birth of psychology as a separate discipline. From minute moment-to-moment predictions of the movements of a melody or a ball, to the long-term plans of our friends and foes, we continuously predict the world around us, because we learned the statistical regularities that govern it. It is often only when predictions go awry —when the sensory input does not match with the predictions we implicitly formed— that we become conscious of this incessant predictive activity of our brains. In the last decennia, a computational model called predictive coding emerged that attempts to formalize this matching pro- cess, hence explaining perceptual inference and learning. The predictive coding scheme describes how each level in the cortical processing hierarchy predicts inputs from levels below. In this way resources can be focused on that part of the input that was unpredicted, and therefore signals important changes in the environment that are still to be explained. -
What Do Predictive Coders Want?
Synthese manuscript No. (will be inserted by the editor) What do Predictive Coders Want? Colin Klein Macquarie University Sydney NSW, 2109 Australia Tel: +61 02 9850 8876 Fax: +61 02 9850 8892 [email protected] Abstract The so-called “dark room problem” makes vivd the challenges that purely predictive models face in accounting for motivation. I argue that the problem is a serious one. Proposals for solving the dark room problem via predictive coding architectures are either empirically inadequate or computa- tionally intractable. The Free Energy principle might avoid the problem, but only at the cost of setting itself up as a highly idealized model, which is then literally false to the world. I draw at least one optimistic conclusion, however. Real-world, real-time systems may embody motivational states in a variety of ways consistent with idealized principles like FEP, including ways that are intuitively embodied and extended. This may allow predictive coding theo- rists to reconcile their account with embodied principles, even if it ultimately undermines loftier ambitions. Keywords Predictive Coding, Free Energy Principle, Homeostasis, Good Regulator The- orem, Extended Mind, Explanation Acknowledgements Research on this work was funded by Australian Research Council Grant FT140100422. For helpful discussions, thanks to Esther Klein, Julia Sta↵el, Wolfgang Schwartz, the ANU 2013 reading group on predictive coding, and participants at the 2015 CAVE “”Predictive Coding, Delusions, and Agency” workshop at Macquarie University. For feedback on earlier drafts of this work, additional thanks to Pe- ter Clutton, Jakob Hohwy, Max Coltheart, Michael Kirchho↵, Bryce Huebner, 2 Luke Roelofs, Daniel Stoljar, two anonymous referees, the ANU Philosophy of Mind work in progress group, and an audience at the “Predictive Brains and Embodied, Enactive Cognition” workshop at the University of Wollongong. -
Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Cambridge Core
2/14/2020 Prediction, embodiment, and representation | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Cambridge Core Home> Journals> Behavioral and Brain Sciences> Volume 42 > Prediction, embodiment, and rep... English | Français Behavioral and Brain Sciences Volume 42 2019 , e216 Prediction, embodiment, and representation István Aranyosi (a1) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X19001274 Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 November 2019 In response to: Is coding a relevant metaphor for the brain? Related commentaries (27) Author response Abstract First, I argue that there is no agreement within non-classical cognitive science as to whether one should eliminate representations, hence, it is not clear that Brette's appeal to it is going to solve the problems with coding. Second, I argue that Brette's criticism of predictive coding as being intellectualistic is not justified, as predictive coding is compatible with embodied cognition. Copyright COPYRIGHT: © Cambridge University Press 2019 Hide All https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-brain-sciences/article/prediction-embodiment-and-representation/D38B6A8329371101F9… 1/2 Among the shortcomings that the metaphor of coding involves, Brette mentions its inability to truly function as a representation. At the same time, he seeks an alternative to coding in non-classical cognitive science, such as dynamic systems, ecological psychology, and embodied cognition, which, in their most radical and most interesting versions are precisely anti-representationalist approaches. How is the former complaint to be squared with the latter alleged solution? Brette does not tell us, but his critical discussion of predictive coding indicates that, ultimately, his problem with coding is the alleged intellectualism involved in it, hence, it is the alternative, embodied and embedded cognition theory that he thinks should be understood as currently the best remedy. -
Vanilla PP for Philosophers: a Primer on Predictive Processing
Vanilla PP for Philosophers: A Primer on Predictive Processing Wanja Wiese & Thomas Metzinger The goal of this short chapter, aimed at philosophers, is to provide an overview and brief Keywords explanation of some central concepts involved in predictive processing (PP). Even those who consider themselves experts on the topic may find it helpful to see how the central Active inference | Attention | Bayesian terms are used in this collection. To keep things simple, we will first informally define a set Inference | Environmental seclusion of features important to predictive processing, supplemented by some short explanations | Free energy principle | Hierarchi- and an alphabetic glossary. cal processing | Ideomotor principle The features described here are not shared in all PP accounts. Some may not be nec- | Perception | Perceptual inference | essary for an individual model; others may be contested. Indeed, not even all authors of Precision | Prediction | Prediction error this collection will accept all of them. To make this transparent, we have encouraged con- minimization | Predictive processing | tributors to indicate briefly which of the features arenecessary to support the arguments Predictive control | Statistical estima- they provide, and which (if any) are incompatible with their account. For the sake of clar- tion | Top-down processing ity, we provide the complete list here, very roughly ordered by how central we take them to be for “Vanilla PP” (i.e., a formulation of predictive processing that will probably be Acknowledgments accepted by most researchers working on this topic). More detailed explanations will be We are extremely grateful to Regina given below. Note that these features do not specify individually necessary and jointly suf- Fabry and Jakob Hohwy for providing ficient conditions for the application of the concept of “predictive processing”. -
Rethinking Situated and Embodied Social Psychology
TAP0010.1177/0959354315585661Theory & PsychologyPouw and Looren de Jong 585661research-article2015 Article Theory & Psychology 2015, Vol. 25(4) 411 –433 Rethinking situated and © The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: embodied social psychology sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0959354315585661 tap.sagepub.com Wim T. J. L. Pouw VU University Amsterdam, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands and University of Wollongong, Australia Huib Looren de Jong VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands Abstract This article aims to explore the scope of a Situated and Embodied Social Psychology (ESP). At first sight, social cognition seems embodied cognition par excellence. Social cognition is first and foremost a supra-individual, interactive, and dynamic process (Semin & Smith, 2013). Radical approaches in Situated/Embodied Cognitive Science (Enactivism) claim that social cognition consists in an emergent pattern of interaction between a continuously coupled organism and the (social) environment; it rejects representationalist accounts of cognition (Hutto & Myin, 2013). However, mainstream ESP (Barsalou, 1999, 2008) still takes a rather representation-friendly approach that construes embodiment in terms of specific bodily formatted representations used (activated) in social cognition. We argue that mainstream ESP suffers from vestiges of theoretical solipsism, which may be resolved by going beyond internalistic spirit that haunts mainstream ESP today. Keywords ecological psychology, enactivism, Perceptual Symbol Systems, Situated Embodied Cognitive Science, social psychology During the past few decades, Situated and Embodied Cognitive Science (hereinafter Situated/Embodied Cognition) has become increasingly influential in psychology and philosophy of mind. Briefly, it holds that the mind is inherently determined and struc- tured by the body and the environment, or in a more radical version, that the mind extends over the body and the environment (for overviews see Clark, 2008; Shapiro, 2011). -
Distributed Cognition in Classical Antiquity Reveals Diverse Notions of Distributed Cognition in the Early Greek and Roman Worlds
Edited by Miranda Anderson, THE EDINBURGH HISTORY OF DISTRIBUTED COGNITION Douglas Cairns and THE EDINBURGH HISTORY OF DISTRIBUTED COGNITION Mark Sprevak ‘Once we look for it, distributed cognition is ubiquitous in classical antiquity. This book is a fascinating examination of the tools that made thinking easier and of the complex boundaries between the individual mind and the group.’ Ruth Scodel, University of Michigan Distributed Cognition in Classical Antiquity Reveals diverse notions of distributed cognition in the early Greek and Roman worlds This collection brings together eleven essays by international specialists in classical antiquity and provides a general and a period-specific introduction to distributed cognition and the cognitive humanities. The essays look at the ways in which cognition is explicitly or implicitly conceived of as distributed across brain, body and world in Greek and Roman technology, science and medicine, material culture, philosophy and literary studies. This exploratory work will be valuable across the humanities as it reveals the historical foundations of our theoretical and practical attempts to comprehend and optimise the distributed nature of human cognition. Miranda Anderson is a Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. Douglas Cairns is Professor of Classics in the University of Edinburgh. Mark Sprevak is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. Distributed Cognition in Classical Antiquity Cover image: © János Kass, etching made for the illustration of Madách Imre’s Az ember tragédiája (Tragedy of Man), Egypt Cover design: Bekah Mackenzie and Stuart Dalziel Edited by Miranda Anderson, Douglas Cairns and Mark Sprevak 2 Distributed Cognition in Classical Antiquity Distributed Cognition in Classical Antiquity Edited by Miranda Anderson, Douglas Cairns and Mark Sprevak Edinburgh University Press is one of the leading university presses in the UK. -
Of Bayes and Bullets: an Embodied, Situated, Targeting-Based Account of Predictive Processing
Western University Scholarship@Western Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications Brain and Mind Institute 2017 Of Bayes and bullets: An embodied, situated, targeting-based account of predictive processing M.L. Anderson Philosophy, Rotman Institute Western University Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/brainpub Part of the Neurosciences Commons, and the Psychology Commons Citation of this paper: Anderson, M.L., "Of Bayes and bullets: An embodied, situated, targeting-based account of predictive processing" (2017). Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications. 53. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/brainpub/53 Of Bayes and Bullets: An Embodied, Situated, Targeting-Based Account of Predictive Processing Michael L. Anderson Here I argue that Jakob Hohwy’s (Hohwy 2013) cognitivist interpretation of pre- Keywords dictive processing (a) does not necessarily follow from the evidence for the im- portance of Bayesian processing in the brain; (b) is rooted in a misunderstanding Bayesian brain | Ecological psychol- of our epistemic position in the world; and (c) is undesirable in that it leads to ogy | Embodied cognition epistemic internalism or idealism. My claim is that the internalist/idealist conclu- sions do not follow from predictive processing itself, but instead from the model of perceptionHohwy ’s adopts, and that there are alternate models of perception that do not lend themselves to idealist conclusions. The position I advocate is similar to Andy Clark’s embodied/embedded interpretation of Bayesian process- ing (Clark 2015); however, I argue that Clark’s position, as currently stated, also potentially leads to idealist conclusions. I offer a specific emendation toClark’s view that I believe avoids this pitfall. -
Mind, Body, Motion, Matter Eighteenth-Century British and French Literary Perspectives Edited by Mary Helen Mcmurran and Alison Conway MIND, BODY, MOTION, MATTER
Mind, Body, Motion, Matter Eighteenth-Century British and French Literary Perspectives edited by Mary Helen McMurran and Alison Conway MIND, BODY, MOTION, MATTER Eighteenth-Century British and French Literary Perspectives Mind, Body, Motion, Matter Eighteenth-Century British and French Literary Perspectives EDITED BY MARY HELEN MCMURRAN AND ALISON CONWAY UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS Toronto Buffalo London © University of Toronto Press 2016 Toronto Buffalo London www.utppublishing.com Printed in the U.S.A. ISBN 978-1-4426-5011-4 (cloth) Printed on acid-free, 100% post-consumer recycled paper with vegetable-based inks. ___________________________________________________________________ Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Mind, body, motion, matter : eighteenth-century British and French literary perspectives / edited by Mary Helen McMurran and Alison Conway. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4426-5011-4 (cloth) 1. English literature – 18th century – History and criticism. 2. French literature – 18th century – History and criticism. 3. Philosophy in literature. 4. Materialism in literature. 5. Vitalism in literature. 6. Aesthetics in literature. I. Conway, Alison Margaret, editor II. McMurran, Mary Helen, 1962–, author, editor PR448.P5M55 2016 820.9'384 C2015-908168-8 ___________________________________________________________________ CC-BY-NC-ND This work is published subject to a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivative License. For permission to publish commercial versions please