An Enactive-Ecological Approach to Information and Uncertainty.
Frontiers in Psychology January 1, 2020 Eros Moreira de Carvalho, Giovanni Rolla 32 citations
Information is central to cognitive science and neuroscience, but its meaning for a cognitive system acquiring information about its surroundings is debated. This theoretical paper argues that the ecological psychology concept of information for action can be understood as covariant information, as developed by some enactivists. Learning to perceive this covariant information involves minimizing uncertainty through skilled performance, aligning with Shannon's idea of uncertainty reduction. The authors propose that an agent's cognitive system conveys information for acting by minimizing uncertainty about achieving intended goals. They review empirical findings showing that direct learning, an instance of ecological rationality, transforms mere possibilities for action into embodied know-how, and note its affinity with sense-making activity.