HCCK03171U COG, Embodied and Embedded Cognition

In this course we will assess the theoretical significance of focussing on the bodily form and environmental situation of cognitive agents. In apparent contrast to classical research in cognitive science, cognition has recently been described as 'embodied', 'embedded', 'situated', 'enactive' and even 'extended' beyond brain and body into the world. We will examine the extent to which these labels mark a significant theoretical advance in explanation of cognitive processes such as attention, memory, creativity, emotion, perception, pre-linguistic communication and social interaction. The course aims at making the student capable of:

• Characterising and contrasting the notions of embodied and embedded cognition (and related notions)
• Examining the extent to which embodied and embedded cognitive scientific explanations present a challenge to classical cognitive scientific approaches
• Assessing the quality of embodied and embedded cognitive scientific explanations of cognitive processes such as attention, memory, creativity, emotion, perception, pre-linguistic communication and social interaction