The Dynamics of Brain–Body–Environment Systems

Publisher Summary It is becoming increasingly clear that situatedness, embodiment, and dynamics work much better as a unit. Combining these three ideas leads to the notion of a brain–body–environment system, wherein an agent's nervous system, its body, and its environment are each conceptualized as dynamical systems that are in continuous interaction. Taking such a perspective seriously has fundamental implications across the cognitive, behavioral, and brain sciences, but it also raises many difficult empirical and theoretical challenges. Exploring these implications and addressing these challenges has been a major focus of the current research program for almost 20 years. This chapter reviews both the experimental and the theoretical accomplishments of this research program to date, and then discusses some of the major challenges that remain.

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