From Wide Cognition to Mechanisms: A Silent Revolution.
Marcin Miłkowski, Robert W. Clowes, Zuzanna Rucińska, Aleksandra Przegalińska, Tadeusz Zawidzki, Joel Krueger, Adam Gies, Marek Mcgann, Łukasz Afeltowicz, Witold Wachowski, Fredrik Stjernberg, Victor Loughlin, Mateusz Hohol
Frontiers in Psychology 2018 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02393 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Distributed cognition Embodied cognition Enactivism Extended mind Grounded cognition Mechanistic explanation Scaffolded mind Wide mechanism |
| Citations | 82 |
| Key points | Argues that wide perspectives on cognition are best understood as research heuristics for building mechanistic explanations, and that cognitive neuroscience has already moved toward integrating these perspectives into broader mechanistic accounts. |
Abstract
In this paper, we argue that several recent 'wide' perspectives on cognition (embodied, embedded, extended, enactive, and distributed) are only partially relevant to the study of cognition. While these wide accounts override traditional methodological individualism, the study of cognition has already progressed beyond these proposed perspectives toward building integrated explanations of the mechanisms involved, including not only internal submechanisms but also interactions with others, groups, cognitive artifacts, and their environment. Wide perspectives are essentially research heuristics for building mechanistic explanations. The claim is substantiated with reference to recent developments in the study of "mindreading" and debates on emotions. We argue that the current practice in cognitive (neuro)science has undergone, in effect, a silent mechanistic revolution, and has turned from initial binary oppositions and abstract proposals toward the integration of wide perspectives with the rest of the cognitive (neuro)sciences.