OBJECT CONCEPTS AND EMBODIMENT : WHY SENSORIMOTOR AND COGNITIVE PROCESSES CANNOT BE SEPARATED

The embodied perspective The emerging view of embodied cognition holds that the body shapes the mind, and that cognitive processes are deeply rooted in the body’s interactions with the world. Thus sensorimotor and cognitive processes cannot be conceived of as separate. This perspective deeply contrasts with the view of traditional cognitive science according to which the mind is an information processing device. The traditional view houses two claims concerning the relationships between perception, action and cognition. First, “low level” or sensorimotor processes are strictly separated from “high level” or cognitive processes. Perception and action are only input and output devices, having just a peripheral relationship with “”central” processes. Second, perception and action are separated as well. Perception always precedes action, and it occurs in the same way independent of the expected motor response. What is perceived is independent from movement and the motor knowledge necessary to produce action. Thus, the motor system carries out merely executive functions.

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