F1000Research 2021, 10:193 Last updated: 12 AUG 2021 OPINION ARTICLE Mechanics of the Peripheral Auditory System: Foundations for Embodied Listening Using Dynamic Systems Theory and the Coupling Devices as a Metaphor [version 2; peer review: 2 approved] Previous title: Embodied listening and coupling Bruno Jactat Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8577, Japan v2 First published: 08 Mar 2021, 10:193 Open Peer Review https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.51125.1 Latest published: 28 Jul 2021, 10:193 https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.51125.2 Reviewer Status Invited Reviewers Abstract Current approaches to listening are built on standard cognitive 1 2 science, which considers the brain as the locus of all cognitive activity. This work aims to investigate listening as phenomena occurring within version 2 a brain, a body (embodiment), and an environment (situatedness). (revision) Drawing on insights from physiology, acoustics, and audiology, this 28 Jul 2021 essay presents listening as an interdependent brain-body- environment construct grounded in dynamic systems theory. version 1 Coupling, self-organization, and attractors are the central 08 Mar 2021 report report characteristics of dynamic systems. This article reviews the first of these aspects in order to develop a fuller understanding of how 1. Curtis Kelly , Kansai University, Osaka, embodied auditory perception occurs. It introduces the mind-body problem before reviewing dynamic systems theory and exploring the Japan notion of coupling in human hearing by way of current and original JALT BRAIN SIG, Tokyo, Japan analogies drawn from engineering. It posits that the current use of the Watt governor device as an analogy for coupling is too simplistic 2. Brian J. Birdsell, Hirosaki University, to account for the coupling phenomena in the human ear. Hirosaki, Japan In light of this review of the physiological characteristics of the peripheral auditory system, coupling in hearing appears more Any reports and responses or comments on the variegated than originally thought and accounts for the diversity of article can be found at the end of the article. perception among individuals, a cause for individual variance in how the mind emerges, which in turn affects academic performance. Understanding the constraints and affordances of the physical ear with regard to incoming sound supports the embodied listening paradigm. Keywords listening, language learning, teaching, cognitive science, embodiment, situatedness, dynamic systems theory, coupling. Page 1 of 24 F1000Research 2021, 10:193 Last updated: 12 AUG 2021 This article is included in the University of Tsukuba gateway. Corresponding author: Bruno Jactat ([email protected]) Author roles: Jactat B: Conceptualization, Funding Acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Writing – Original Draft Preparation, Writing – Review & Editing Competing interests: No competing interests were disclosed. Grant information: This project was supported with funds provided by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) #18K00777). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Copyright: © 2021 Jactat B. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. How to cite this article: Jactat B. Mechanics of the Peripheral Auditory System: Foundations for Embodied Listening Using Dynamic Systems Theory and the Coupling Devices as a Metaphor [version 2; peer review: 2 approved] F1000Research 2021, 10 :193 https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.51125.2 First published: 08 Mar 2021, 10:193 https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.51125.1 Page 2 of 24 F1000Research 2021, 10:193 Last updated: 12 AUG 2021 refers to this as the conceptualization theme in embodiment: REVISED Amendments from Version 1 “The properties of an organism’s body limit and constrain the concepts an organism can acquire” (2019, p.4). Broadly speak- The notion of “embodied listening” not being fully developed but simply introduced in this paper, the original title “Embodied ing, this means, for example, that an elephant’s brain and Listening and Coupling” was changed to: “Mechanics of the body bring forth a mind that has little to do with the type of Peripheral Auditory System: Foundations for Embodied Listening mind that emerges from a human brain and body. More narrowly, Using Dynamic Systems Theory and the Coupling Devices as a and more usefully, this also suggests that structural vari- Metaphor.” Two redundant paragraphs were deleted. ances in the body and brain within humans generate individual Any further responses from the reviewers can be found at differences in the mind. Since the body contributes to the overall the end of the article functions of the mind through its perceptual, sensory-motor, and affective experiences with the environment, then language also, as a constituent of cognition, is equally important in the mind’s Introduction development and ongoing processing (Lakoff et al., 1999). It As a second language instructor of French, I have often noted logically follows that academic performance is impacted by a hearing difficulties among my students. I am interested in the person’s bodily mechanisms. For example, sensory processing fact that bodily functions, such as hearing, may interfere with disorders are known to cause, among other things, cognitive and or, conversely, help with learning a new language. Does the academic difficulties among people on the autistic spectrum or body actually have an influence on how the mind functions? with ADHD, and, more generally, in various degrees among Proponents of embodied cognition say it does and claim that people of all ages and conditions (Geffner & Ross-Swain, 2018). the mind does not operate independently, neither from its As pertains to typical language learning and processing, numerous hosts, the brain and body, nor from its environment. If this is studies have reported relationships between bodily processes the case, then I am curious about what a review of the human and language, substantializing embodied theories, notably in auditory system can tell us about its influence on shaping the cognitive linguistics. In this framework, language is learned mind. bottom-up by individuals who interact with language through their bodily and worldly experiences. Situated language use, This paper proposes that the minds of learners are impacted by experienced with and through a body, provides the grounding the shape, size, position, fabric and functions of their physi- for memorizing and schematizing useful linguistic features, cal ears, and that variability among these features accounts for a process that has been well-documented by proponents of diversity of minds and, by extension, variance in learning usage-based theories of language (Tomasello, 2003; Tomasello, capacities. I introduce the term embodied listening here to 2009). refer to the fact that listening, as a cognitive trait in humans, is both constrained and facilitated by these bodily features. If, according to the usage-based theory of language, the interac- tions a language user has with the environment and body matter While examining literature related to embodiment, I have in the building of linguistic skills, then perception must play found that some current metaphors used to describe embod- an important role in the amount and quality of information ied cognition are too simplistic. Dynamic systems theory is perceived and processed. In terms of auditory perception, a often used as a framework to explain how complex systems review of the auditory system will shed light on its influence on emerge and operate, such as embodied minds. Within this learning. Research spanning fields including acoustics, audiol- paradigm, coupling is a characteristic that defines how two ogy, anatomy, physiology, and neuroscience will prove useful separate elements such as the body and mind work in sync. An to this investigation. engineering device known as the Watt governor (see section Dynamic systems theory), is used to analogize the notion of coupling but it does so in a way that fails to capture the delicate Since my inquiry addresses issues that are pertinent not only sophistication of coupling in the hearing organ. This paper to researchers working in the cognitive sciences (especially discusses these limitations and introduces the elastomer language learning) but also to the boots-on-the-ground teacher coupling device as an alternative analogy that can account for trainers, language instructors, and professors, whose training the ear’s complexity, the interactions between the different ear might not have familiarized them with the specialized terminology parts and the interactions between the environment, the physical associated with the fields mentioned above, I will either ear and the mind. provide definitions for these terms or, better, will use the more common term when available (e.g. ear canal instead of external Topic overview auditory meatus). The embodied mind thesis posits that mechanisms underly- ing cognition are shaped not only by the brain but by the Although those scientific fields provide evidence for the embodied entire body. Furthermore, mind and body are not perceived as