Embodied cognition is a relatively recent comprehensive framework for the study of mind. This kind of approach has recently attained high acceptance in cognitive psychology arena. There is a growing idea that the mind must be understood in the context of agent’s relationship and interaction with the world. Lots of support coming in from the experimental procedures in psychology where the psychologists will ask subjects to perform some sort of tasks and then by making manipulation on their bodies in certain ways. They find that the subjects differ and the result depending on simple facts even such as whether they are right or left handed. There is also works in robotics where robots have been designed that seemed to perform complex behaviors …show more content…
Wilson:
Margret Wilson distinguishes and evaluates the following six claims: (1) cognition is situated, (2) cognition is time pressured, (3) we off load the cognitive work onto the environment, (4) the environment is the part of cognitive system, (5) cognition is for action, (6) offline cognition is body based. Let’s tackle one by
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Cognitive system is evolved because it is a behavioral control system which is very much important trait for adaptation. Cognitive systems should be studied in terms of their function in serving, and when we look in this way it is hard to alienate the world from the cognitive system. For example, traditional view of visual perception proposes that visual system is present for the building of internal representation of the perceived world, which is used by some higher mechanisms in the brain. But now it is much clear that generally visual perception is used for guiding actions. For instance there is a study by Krish and Maglio (1994) on Tetris game. In the Tetris game falling block shapes must be rotated and horizontally fitted as compact as possible along with the shapes already fallen. This decision of rotation should be made very early before the block falls far down to allow the possible movements. The data shows that players use actual rotation and translation movements to simplify the problem to be solved, rather than computing a solution in mind first then executing it. This clearly shows that visual cognition is used in guiding action
One of the major differences between humans and animals is our ability to reason and differentiate our actions from our instincts (Barrett, 2011, p. 3). Justin Barrett further explains this distinction in the first chapter of his book, Cognitive Science Religion and Theology. He explains that cognitive science recognizes the uniqueness of the human mind and focuses on explaining the thinking processes that take place(Barrett, 2011, p. 5). This may seem similar to what the field of neuroscience aims to do but, cognitive science is not as interested with the biological functions of the brain. Instead of looking at physical structures Barrett writes, that cognitive science focuses on broader processes such as perception, attention, memory, reasoning and learning (Barrett, 2011, p. 7). All of these processes interact with each other to create the big questions asked in cognitive science. Some of these big underlying questions of cognitive science are explored in this first chapter, questions such as “What is innate?” or “How are mind and bodies
Atlantic journalist Nicholas Carr confesses that he feels something has been “tinkering with his brain.” The internet, he fears, may be messing with our minds. We have lost the ability to focus on a simple task, and memory retention is steadily declining. He is worried about the effect the internet has on the human brain, and where it may take us in the future. In response to this article, Jamais Cascio, also a journalist for the Atlantic, provides his stance on the issue. He argues that this different way of thinking is an adaptation derived from our environment. Ultimately, he thinks that this staccato way of thinking is simply a natural evolution, one that will help to advance the human race.
Lakoff, George and Mark Johnson. Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought. 3-44.New York: Basic Books, 1999.
The mind-body problem has astounded philosophers since the beginning of time, but many researchers actively searching for solutions to the problem are nearing their final conclusion. Many have based their theories on the mind being a nonphysical thing that simply interacts with the body, known as interactionism, and many others have used physicalism as their brand of choice, where theories claim the mind and body are both physical entities and interact with one another. Even though both theories have received high remarks from top-notch philosophers and scientists, physicalism is my preference due to modern technological advances which exhibit neurological processes occurring in the brain, the physical interaction that must occur between humans’
The explanation of how the mind can discriminate towards stimuli, report information or even control behavior can easily be reduced with science. These are practical problems that can be solved and even be given a structure. Through the study of cognitive process, these problems can be solved systematically and mechanistically. However, what cannot be fully explained through cognitive process is our first person experience.
Cognitive psychology is concerned with the internal processes involved in making sense of the environment and deciding what action may be appropriate. These processes include attention, perception, learning and reasoning, (Eysenck and Keane, 2010).There are a number of approaches which can be used within this field, however for the purposes of the essay only two will be compared; cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology. The aims of cognitive neuroscientists are often similar to those of cognitive psychologists; they are both interested in the brain and cognition, (Medin and Ross, 1996). Nevertheless, it could be argued that there are also some fundamental differences between the two approaches, especially in the research methods employed. This assignment will explain and evaluate the models in comparison to one another.
Cognitive processes are the unseen systems used by our minds to complete tasks such as solving problems, recognising an object, or learning a language. These unseen mental processes take place in the brain, which is a complex piece of equipment often compared to a computer. When the internal workings of a computer are exposed, all that we see are microchips, circuit boards, hard drives and other assorted pieces, which, all work and ...
These two articles are similar in the sense that they agree that the internet and computational objects are reshaping our brain’s structure by changing our neural circuit. By using examples from their personal experiences to identify a trend in technology use, the authors illustrate that the more we bury ourselves in technology the more we are unable to understand material which leads to loss of concentration and the ability to think for ourselves. As an author, Carr finds the internet a beneficial tool, but it’s having a bad effect on his concentration span. Carr points this out by stating “Immersing myself in a book or lengthy article used to be easy, now I get fidgety, lose the thread and begin looking for something else to do” (39). He is no
Whilst evaluating the cognitive approach to psychology there are many strengths such as that the cognitive approach takes an understanding of the influence from mental processes on one’s behaviour, focusing on an individual’s thinking patterns and their perception. This approach also relates to many known functions and operations that the human body performs such as memory and problem solving.
The human mind is viewed as a symbol-manipulating system through which information flow. According to information processing theory, the information that comes from the environment is subject to mental processes beyond a simple stimulus-response pattern. The input from the environment passes through the cognitive systems which are then measured by the output. The information that is received may take several pathways depending on attention, encoding, recognition, and storage. The theory focuses on actual time responses to stimuli presented and how the mind transforms that information. Most important in this theory is that humans process information rather than perceive
He observes that his mind has been changing with the use of the internet and that computers are diminishing his capacity for concentration and contemplation (Carr 315). He effectively expresses his feelings that longer attention spans are being replaced by more instant-gratification demanding mindsets. It’s with these newfound mindsets that Carr expresses concern that the human psyche is becoming little more than robotic algorithms incapable of reflection, deep critical thinking, problem solving, or imagination (Carr 327). Furthermore, Carr’s concern with how technology affects our ability to think has been echoed in research specific to
Affordance approach: attributes of an object that are not common to every individual that come across them, the affordance of the object are not. Affordance are peculiar to the specific way in which an actor or a group of actors thinks of and use the artifact. Researchers who study the relations between social practice and new technologies have discovered huge usefulness in the affordance approach since it helps in explaining why individuals using the same technology might involve in a related or unrelated interaction or work practice. Nowadays, greatest degree of writings on the relations between technology and corporate change stress more on the relational attributes of affordance. In this regard, affordance are not absolutely properties of people or objects they are created in relations between individual and materiality of things with which they come across. In this scenario ‘materiality’ means the attributes of the technological object whether that object is a part of hardware or software. An affordance concept support organization to achieve communicative accomplishment allowed by the relations between corporation and technology functionality. For instance, in [13], IBM’s SNS SocialBlue (previously Beehive) has an attribute called “About You” this is a feature via which users can choose to enter information that will be visible to other people as a portion of employees profile on the page. With affordance concept, the organization and researchers can ask “what does the ‘technology’ attribute can afford peoples opportunities to do? In that case the organization could investigate the attributes of other Web 2.0 tools in order to discover whether these technologies have attributes that are distinct from others.
Keil, F. C. and Wilson, R. A. (1999) The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences. Cambridge, Massachusetts & London, England: The MIT Press
This perspective suggests that much of human behavior is mediated by thought processes like memory and attention, belief systems, attitudes and language. Belief systems, value systems, thought processes, reason and intelligence have a significant impact on why we do the things we do and act the way we act. The cognitive perspective suggests that much of human behavior is significantly influenced by cognitive processes and is thus amenable to our thoughtful control (1). Cognitive Psychology revolves around the notion that if we want to know what makes people tick then the way to do it is to figure out what processes are actually going on in their minds
Cognitive Psychology is focused on learning based on how people perceive, remember, think, speak and problem-solve. The cognitive perspective differs in...