The body of knowledge: On the role of the living body in grounding embodied cognition

Embodied cognition remains a contested concept in cognitive science and AI. Some researchers treat the body as a sensorimotor interface that grounds computational processes in environmental interaction, while biologically-oriented views stress the living body's homeostatic and allostatic self-regulation as foundational for both sensorimotor interaction and cognition. Adopting the latter perspective—a multi-tiered affectively embodied view—the author argues that modeling organisms as layered networks of bodily self-regulation mechanisms can advance scientific understanding of embodied cognition.

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Abstract

Embodied cognition is a hot topic in both cognitive science and AI, despite the fact that there still is relatively little consensus regarding what exactly constitutes 'embodiment'. While most embodied AI and cognitive robotics research views the body as the physical/sensorimotor interface that allows to ground computational cognitive processes in sensorimotor interactions with the environment, more biologically-based notions of embodied cognition emphasize the fundamental role that the living body - and more specifically its homeostatic/allostatic self-regulation - plays in grounding both sensorimotor interactions and embodied cognitive processes. Adopting the latter position - a multi-tiered affectively embodied view of cognition in living systems - it is further argued that modeling organisms as layered networks of bodily self-regulation mechanisms can make significant contributions to our scientific understanding of embodied cognition.