Talk - PhiloNeuro 2010

8/8/2019 Talk - PhiloNeuro 2010

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Todays Talk


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The EMT is a viewabout the boundariesof mind and cognition

that envisions theemergence of extendedcognitive systemsthrough the coupledcombination of

externally locatedresources, bodilymanipulations, and in-the-head processing.

The Extended Mind Thesis

(EMT)


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It allows for distributedrepresentations toexpand outward from

their cranial prison intothe environment and totranscend the boundariesof the cognitivearchitecture of the

biological cognizerthrough dynamicalcouplings, persistentinterweavements andcognitive loops.


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The pen and paper system is a cognitive systemon its own!


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` The world is taken as a peripheral store of information. Suchinformation is however relevant to processes such as perceiving,remembering or reasoning.

` At least some mental states are hybrid, as they encompass bothinternal and external operations.

` The external operations take the form of actions that carryinformation crucial to the achievement of a given task.

` The internal machinery is concerned with providing agents with thecapability to effectively couple with a wide range of externalresources in an active environment.

(Rowlands, 2009)


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` Extended cognition appears in one of these three territories(natural realm, technological domain, social sphere) or a

combination of two of them.


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Cognitive Systems recruit technologicaland artificial resources.

DedicatedCognitive Artefacts (such as laptops)

Special Equipments (SSDs)


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SSDs a case of technologicalextension?

SSDs provide means ofexpanding cognition andperception towards new

horizons, in ways that wouldhave been impossible withoutthem. SSDs systematicallytransform our sensory experience,implementing our skills.

Such devices bring forth aconstitutive forms of perceptualsensorimotor interaction with theenvironment.


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PARITY BASED - largely relies onfunctionalism

COMPLEMENTARITY BASED -e si es t e C le e t r c tri ti

f i er ter res rces


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If, as we confront sometask, a part of the worldfunctions as a processwhich, were it done in

the head, we would haveno hesitation in

recognizing as part of thecognitive process, thenthat part of the world is

(so we claim) part of thecognitive process. (Clark& Chalmers, 1998)

First Wave: Parity-Based


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Parity Re-Stated .

Ifa) there is functional equality with respect to governing behaviour,

between the causal contribution of certain internal elements and thecausal contribution of certain external elements,

andb) the internal elements concerned qualify as the proper parts of acognitive trait,

then

c) there is no good reason to deny equivalentstatus that is, cognitive status to therelevant external elements.


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` Causal Constitutional Conflation

& Mark of the Cognitive

` Feasibility of EMT

` Functional Roles


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Functional Roles


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Quick Replies .


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...Complementaritybetween what thebiological brain can doand what theenvironment provides,such that inner

processes and vehiclesand outer processesand vehicles worktogether to complete acognitive task


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I endorse a

COMPLEMENTARITY -BASED version of theEMT

In my account, internaland external resources are

merged together anddeeply integrated into thecognitive system so as togive rise to augmented

occurrences.

My

View


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It can be definedas the capacity ofthe brain tochange itsstructure andmodify itsfunctionsaccording toenvironmental

stimulation.

Whats Neural Plasticity?


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It is the plasticity of ourbrain that in fact allowsfor the recruitment and

exploitation of bodily,technologically andenvironmentally locatedresources in problem-solving.

It is the plasticity of ourbrain that permits suchaugmented cognition toemerge.


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I argue that it is cortical plasticity thatenables this kind of deep and enrichedintegration. In other words, Plasticity is aprecondition for AugmentedCognition


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Paul Bach-Y-Rita and Sensory

SubstitutionSSDs provide a niceexample of howcognition can be

augmented by tooluse in a way thatdirectly exploits theopportunismafforded by neuralplasticity.


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The vOICe

The vOICe is composedof a head-cameramounted on spysunglasses with a

viewing angle on theorder of 90-135 degrees.

The device is interfaced,through stereo earbuds,to a PCs USB port forboth the video signaland the cameras powersupply.


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It works by mapping livecamera images onto sounds.

......Object Localization

Form Recognition


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Which sensory modality does the acquiredperception belong to?

Do they genuinely re-establish a lost sense? Dothey merely replace one sensory modality withanother?


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Its not an Extended

Experience

Its not an Extended

Experience

Only CausalContribution!

Because the system isnot an integrated one

TOOLTOOL-USER

SYSTEM (detachedcomponents)

EMTIS FALSE!!!EMTIS FALSE!!!


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A Stalemate !!!!!

I suspect, there has been nosatisfactory resolution of thisdispute in general. In theabsence ofsuch resolution, theclear danger for the extended

mind is one of stalemate.(Rowlands, op. Cit., 2009).


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Why SSDs are different frommore mundane manipulations ??

eg when we learn to seeunderwater, or to ski??

In these cases too,info from severalmodalities is puttogether in newways determined by

the apparatus, andleads to distinctiveforms of experience!

In support of a tool-tool-useraccount of SSDs .......


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Cortical activity in agiven area takes itsqualitative expression

from the character of itsnonstandard or newinput source. In thesecases, the qualitativeexpression of cortical

activity in that areachanges, deferring to thenew input source.(Hurley & No ,2003).

.To Set Up The Claim For ExtendedExperience and Augmentation


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The vehicle of the experience isthe exploratory movements of theperceiver through which sensorycontent is generated.

The brain defers when theperceiver learns the SMCscharacteristic of vision.

SMCs are regularities in

sensory flow that relate tothe consequences ofmovement.

Movement generates regular patterns insensory flow and does so based on theperceivers interaction with theenvironment (by means of couplings).

Arguments for Deference [1/3]


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Cortical deference isillustrated whencongenitally blindpersons read Braille.

During Braillereading, tactile stimuliactivate the visualcortex

In this case, the brain learnsthe SMCs characteristic ofBraille reading.



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The SMCs will be the sensory consequences of tactile interactionwith Braille. The brain becomes tuned to these invariants.

These invariants arehowever regularities

that relate to theperceiver's interactionswith the environment.

The vehicles of experience will beextended across brain-body-and-world.

New (Vis l) Experience,nEXTENDED

EXPERIENCE !!!



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In agreement with deference, I arguethat something changes in experience !

I dont buy everything fromdeference... I resist the ideathat substitution is a merereplacement!

A brief Recap

The Existence of Extended Experience is astrong argument against the embedded view!

and a possible rejoinder!


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This enriched perceptionintimately augments our

perceptual abilities

My Hypothesis

It is more than a distinctiveexperience. Its an extended

one! SSDs give rise to novel,variant and unfamiliarsensorimotor contingencies.

It is a multimodal unionof senses, whose vehicles

encompass bodily,environmental and neural

components


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Such devices should not be understood asmerely external stand-ins for already existing

purely internal processes (Auvray & Myin,op.Cit., 2009). They transform perception in aqualitative way.

Mind Enhancing

Tools?


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In SSDperception we arenot merelyreplacinga sensethat a perceiverhas for a sense

they lack.

Through thecoupling of theperceiver and theSSD we generate anovel, andmultimodal formof perception.


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In SSD perception, sensorimotorcontingencies from vision, touchand audition are merged together toform a robust and coherent percept.


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Crucially, this cross-modal perception differsfrom any kind wenormally enjoy when weare not using an SSD.

SSDs count as a casefor augmentation.

Their constitutivecontribution radicallydiffers from that broughtforth by the organism.

Joint integration ofsenses!


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After just four hours of initial training, we took a trip to Harvard Squarein Boston, MA. Using the sensory substitution device, I was able tonavigate crowded streets, stairs, and life in the world, all whileblindfolded. You would think that this process would impair my normalauditory capabilities, but I was able to successfully stop before walking

out into a busy road.

There came a point when the sensation the device gave me in the formof unfamiliar sounds turned into a perception of shapes and colours,which was separate and distinct from normal auditory information, such

as the sound of cars in city traffic.In a way you could think of it as, whenlearning a new word in a foreign language, there comes a point when you

cease to translate the word in your head every time you hear it, andinstead automatically understand its meaning.


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I put forward the thesis that SSDsmight give rise to what could becalled a kind of artificialsynaesthesia.


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Prof.Andy CLARK1,Dr. Julian KIVERSTEIN1

,Dr. Till Vierkant1, Prof. John Sutton2,Prof. Leslie Marsh3, Prof. Erik Myin4

1School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh.2Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University Sydney.

3 The New England Institute for Cognitive Science and Evolutionary Studies.4University of Antwerp.

Talk - PhiloNeuro 2010

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