Books by Ezequiel Di Paolo
Linguistic Bodies: The Continuity Between Life and Language
A novel theoretical framework for an embodied, non-representational approach to language that ext... more A novel theoretical framework for an embodied, non-representational approach to language that extends and deepens enactive theory, bridging the gap between sensorimotor skills and language.
How accurate is the picture of the human mind that has emerged from studies in neuroscience, psyc... more How accurate is the picture of the human mind that has emerged from studies in neuroscience, psychology, and cognitive science? Anybody with an interest in how minds work - how we learn about the world and how we remember people and events - may feel dissatisfied with the answers contemporary science has to offer.
Sensorimotor Life draws on current theoretical developments in the enactive approach to life and mind. It examines and expands the premises of the sciences of the human mind, while developing an alternative picture closer to people's daily experiences. Enactive ideas are applied and extended, providing a theoretically rich, naturalistic account of meaning and agency. The book includes a dynamical systems description of different types of sensorimotor regularities or sensorimotor contingencies; a dynamical interpretation of Piaget's theory of equilibration to ground the concept of sensorimotor mastery; and a theory of agency as organized networks of sensorimotor schemes, as well as its implications for embodied subjectivity.
Written for students and researchers of cognitive science, the authors offer a fuller view of the mind, a view better attuned to the experiences of people who live, work, love, struggle, and age, thrown into a world of meaningful relations they help create. Additionally, the book is of interest to neuroscientists, psychiatrists, and philosophers of science.
Towards an Embodied Science of Intersubjectivity: Widening the Scope of Social Understanding Research
Enaction: Towards a New Paradigm for Cognitive Science
Papers by Ezequiel Di Paolo
Horizons for the Enactive Mind
The MIT Press eBooks, Nov 24, 2010
Artificial Life, 2008
A recent study by Cunningham et al. (Cunningham et al., 2001, Psychological Science, 12, p. 532) ... more A recent study by Cunningham et al. (Cunningham et al., 2001, Psychological Science, 12, p. 532) has shown that human subjects adapt to delayed visual feedback in a visuomotor task both behaviourally and experientially, i.e., the behaviour is altered in such a way that successful performance on the task relies on the presence of a visual delay (negative after-effect) and that the experience of simultaneity is readjusted to incorporate the visual delay. This adaptation effect is similar to those observed in experiments with visual displacements, but contrasts with earlier experiments with sensory delays, in which no such adaptation occurred (e.g., Smith and Smith, 1962, Perception and Motion, Saunders). This discrepancy (i.e., adaptation in some situations but not in others) suggests that adaptation to sensory delays does not proceed automatically, on the basis of statistical properties of sensory inputs, but is contingent on the performed behaviour and the associated sensorimotor dynamics. Artificial Life and Evolutionary Robotics simulation models are proven tools in the study of non-linear sensorimotor dynamics, which are difficult to understand intuitively. In particular, our earlier work (
Artificial Life, Aug 1, 2010
Both metabolism and behavior play a key role in biological theory and artificial life modelling. ... more Both metabolism and behavior play a key role in biological theory and artificial life modelling. Yet, despite their centrality there has been very little exploration of the relationship between these concepts and almost no exploration of how the interaction between the two could impact on evolution or instantiate alternative mechanisms for evolutionary processes. We present a simulation model of bacteria capable of metabolism-based chemotaxis: a minimal metabolic system capable of modulating behavior by influencing the probability of flagellar rotation (like in E. coli chemotaxis). We perform two illustrative experiments. In the first, the incorporation of a chemical compound into metabolism qualitatively improves the chemotactic strategy. In the second, an encounter with a specific chemical compound leads to a reaction that opens up a new metabolic pathway while automatically regulating chemotaxis towards that same compound. Both experiments illustrate the adaptive potential of metabolism-based behavior and can be used to explore the idea of "Behavioral Metabolution," a co-evolutionary synergy between behavior and metabolism. We abstract some principles of behavioral metabolution and discuss its application to early prebiotic evolution.
Frontiers in Psychology, Jul 23, 2018
Frontiers in Psychology, 2013
According to the sensorimotor approach, perception is a form of embodied know-how, constituted by... more According to the sensorimotor approach, perception is a form of embodied know-how, constituted by lawful regularities in the sensorimotor flow or in sensorimotor contingencies (SMCs) in an active and situated agent. Despite the attention that this approach has attracted, there have been few attempts to define its core concepts formally. In this paper, we examine the idea of SMCs and argue that its use involves notions that need to be distinguished. We introduce four distinct kinds of SMCs, which we define operationally.These are the notions of sensorimotor environment (open-loop motor-induced sensory variations), sensorimotor habitat (closed-loop sensorimotor trajectories), sensorimotor coordination (reliable sensorimotor patterns playing a functional role), and sensorimotor strategy (normative organization of sensorimotor coordinations). We make use of a minimal dynamical model of visually guided categorization to test the explanatory value of the different kinds of SMCs. Finally, we discuss the impact of our definitions on the conceptual development and empirical as well as model-based testing of the claims of the sensorimotor approach.
Adaptive Behavior, Dec 1, 2007
A preference is not located anywhere in the agent's cognitive architecture, but it is rather a co... more A preference is not located anywhere in the agent's cognitive architecture, but it is rather a constraining of behaviour which is in turn shaped by behaviour. Based on this idea, a minimal model of behavioural preference is proposed. A simulated mobile agent is modelled with a plastic neurocontroller, which holds two separate high dimensional homeostatic boxes in the space of neural dynamics. An evolutionary algorithm is used for creating a link between the boxes and the performance of two different phototactic behaviours. After evolution, the agent's performance exhibits some important aspects of behavioural preferences such as durability and transitions. This paper demonstrates 1) the logical consistency of the multi-causal view by producing a case study of its viability and providing insights into its dynamical basis and 2) how durability and transitions arise through the mutual constraining of internal and external dynamics in the flow of alternating high and low susceptibility to environmental variations. Implications for modelling autonomy are discussed.
Sensorimotor Life
Oxford University Press eBooks, Jun 22, 2017
This book elaborates a series of contributions to a non–representational theory of action and per... more This book elaborates a series of contributions to a non–representational theory of action and perception. It is based on current theoretical developments in the enactive approach to life and mind. These enactive ideas are applied and extended to provide a theoretically rich, naturalistic account of sensorimotor meaning and agency. This account supplies non–representational extensions to the sensorimotor approach to perceptual experience based on the notion of the living body as a self–organizing dynamic system in coupling with the environment. The enactive perspective entails the use of world–involving explanations, in which processes external to an agent co–constitute mental phenomena in ways that cannot be reduced to the supply of information for internal processing. These contributions to sensorimotor theories are a dynamical–systems description of different types of sensorimotor regularities or sensorimotor contingencies, a dynamical interpretation of Piaget's theory of equilibration to ground the concept of sensorimotor mastery, and a theory of agency as organized networks of sensorimotor schemes, with its implications for sensorimotor subjectivity. New tools are provided for examining the organization, development, and operation of networks of sensorimotor schemes that compose regional activities and genres of action with their own situated norms. This permits the exploration of new explanations for the phenomenology of agency experience that are favorably contrasted with traditional computational approaches and lead to new empirical predictions. From these proposals, capabilities once beyond the reach of enactive explanations, such as the possibility of virtual actions and the adoption of socially mediated abstract perceptual attitudes, can be addressed.
The sense of agency
Oxford University Press eBooks, Jun 22, 2017
It has been recognized that the sensorimotor approach needs to be extended to account for not onl... more It has been recognized that the sensorimotor approach needs to be extended to account for not only the pragmatic aspects of perception but also the subjective phenomenology that characterizes experiences of the world and the self. In this chapter, the notion is proposed that sensorimotor agency can serve as the basis for a non-representational, world-involving theory of how agents perceive themselves as being the authors and in control of their actions. Both intentional and movement-related aspects in the phenomenology of agency experience are linked to processes of sensorimotor scheme selection and enactment in a self-sustaining network of interdependent sensorimotor schemes. The proposal is contrasted with traditional computational models in the context of various cases of pathological agency experience, and the ontological status of the sense of agency it implies is clarified in comparison with philosophical alternatives that deny its distinct experiential character.
Sensorimotor agency
Oxford University Press eBooks, Jun 22, 2017
An enactive sensorimotor approach to perception places the agent at the center of the engagements... more An enactive sensorimotor approach to perception places the agent at the center of the engagements that constitute a perceptual act. The notion of agency required, however, cannot be based solely on an organism’s biological well-being. Interests beyond mere survival guide many activities that animals with rich sensorimotor lives engage in. It is proposed that the processes that individuate a sensorimotor agent are the very acts that it performs, and that a network of precarious but mutually stabilizing sensorimotor schemes can satisfy the conditions of agency. Compatibility is demonstrated with dynamical approaches to behavioral development, as well as with psychological theories that support the view of a networked behavioral organization. The interdependence of agency at the organismic, sensorimotor, and social levels is discussed, as well as the relevance of sensorimotor agency, to understand the inherent meaningfulness of perception for the perceiver, as well as her subjectivity.
Recently complex network theory has been broadly applied in various domains. How to effectively a... more Recently complex network theory has been broadly applied in various domains. How to effectively and efficiently optimize the topology of complex networks remains largely an unsolved fundamental question. When applied to the network topology optimization, Genetic Algorithms (GAs) are often confronted with permutation representation, memory-inefficiency and stochastic modeling problems, as well as difficulties in the design of problem-specific evolutionary operators. This paper, inspired by the natural ripple spreading phenomenon, reports a deterministic model of random complex networks. Unlike existing stochastic models, the topology of a random network can be thoroughly determined by some ripple-spreading related parameters in the new model. Therefore, the network topology can be improved by optimize these ripple-spreading related parameters. As a result, no purpose-designed GA is required, but a very basic binary GA, compatible to all classic evolutionary operators, can be applied in a straightforward way. Preliminary simulation results demonstrate the potential of the proposed ripple-spreading model and GA for the topology optimization of random complex networks.
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2011
The viability of a living system is a non-trivial concept, yet it is often highly simplified in m... more The viability of a living system is a non-trivial concept, yet it is often highly simplified in models of adaptive behavior. What is lost in this abstraction? How do viability conditions appear in the first place? In order to address these questions we present a new model of an autopoietic or protocellular system simulated at the molecular level. We propose a measurement for the viability of the system and analyze the 'viability condition' that becomes evident when using this measurement. We observe how the system behaves in relation to this condition, generating instances of chemotaxis, behavioural preferences and simple (yet not trivial) examples of action selection. The model permits the formulation of a number of conclusions regarding the nature of viability conditions and adaptive behaviour modulated by metabolic processes.
Frontiers in Psychology, Nov 26, 2020
Editorial on the Research Topic Enaction and Ecological Psychology: Convergences and Complementar... more Editorial on the Research Topic Enaction and Ecological Psychology: Convergences and Complementarities The past several decades in cognitive science have seen an increasing recognition of the importance of the body, and of the relationship between the body and the environment, to our understanding of the mind. Forms of this recognition have varied substantially, with some seeing it important to add a role for the body into existing computational and representational accounts of cognition (e.g., Clark, 2007; Shapiro, 2011; Barsalou, 2015), while others finding in the body a different approach altogether, one which produces quite a different picture of the mind than those accounts which have formed the mainstream and traditional forms in the cognitive sciences. Some of these more radical forms of embodied cognitive science have developed fairly independently of one another, but nevertheless have come to share some core theoretical characteristics-accounts that emphasize the role of action for perception and that do not involve computation or representations in explanatory roles. In their place we find discussions of skilled bodily activity in providing accounts of the performance of cognitive tasks. Two well-developed such approaches are those of ecological psychology, deriving substantially from the work of psychologist Gibson (1966, 1986), and that of enactive cognitive science, building largely on foundations laid by Varela et al. [1991; see also Thompson (2007)]. Both approaches have continued to expand and diversify in their accounts of psychological and cognitive phenomena, framing significant empirical and theoretical work within the cognitive sciences to date (e.g.,
New Ideas in Psychology, Aug 1, 2008
We introduce a series of evolutionary robotics simulations that address the behaviour of individu... more We introduce a series of evolutionary robotics simulations that address the behaviour of individuals in socially contingent interactions. The models are based on a recent study by Auvray, Lenay and Stewart (2006) on tactile perceptual crossing in a minimal virtual environment. In accordance, both the empirical experiments and our simulations point out the essential character of global embodied interaction dynamics for the sensitivity to contingency to arise. Rather than being individually perceived by any of the interactors, sensitivity to contingency arises from processes of circular causality that characterise the collective dynamics. Such global dynamical aspects are frequently neglected when studying social cognition. Furthermore, our synthetic studies point out interesting aspects of the task that are not immediately obvious in the empirical data. They, in addition, generate new hypotheses for further experiments. We conclude by promoting a minimal but tractable, dynamic and embodied account to social interaction, combining synthetic and empirical findings as well as concrete predictions regarding sensorimotor strategies, the role of time-delays and robustness to perturbations in interactive dynamics.
Adaptive Behavior, Sep 23, 2009
The concept of agency is of crucial importance in cognitive science and artificial intelligence, ... more The concept of agency is of crucial importance in cognitive science and artificial intelligence, and it is often used as an intuitive and rather uncontroversial term, in contrast to more abstract and theoretically heavy-weighted terms like "intentionality", "rationality" or "mind". However, most of the available definitions of agency are either too loose or unspecific to allow for a progressive scientific program. They implicitly and unproblematically assume the features that characterize agents, thus obscuring the full potential and challenge of modeling agency. We identify three conditions that a system must meet in order to be considered as a genuine agent: a) a system must define its own individuality, b) it must be the active source of activity in its environment (interactional asymmetry) and c) it must regulate this activity in relation to certain norms (normativity). We find that even minimal forms of proto-cellular systems can already provide a paradigmatic example of genuine agency. By abstracting away some specific details of minimal models of living agency we define the kind of organization that is capable to meet the required conditions for agency (which is not restricted to living organisms). On this basis, we define agency as an autonomous organization that adaptively regulates its coupling with its environment and contributes to sustaining itself as a consequence. We find that spatiality and temporality are the two fundamental domains in which agency spans at different scales. We conclude by giving an outlook to the road that lies ahead in the pursuit to understand, model and synthesis agents.
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2014
The sensorimotor approach argues that in order to perceive one needs to first "master" the releva... more The sensorimotor approach argues that in order to perceive one needs to first "master" the relevant sensorimotor contingencies, and then exercise the acquired practical know-how to become "attuned" to the actual and potential contingencies a particular situation entails. But the approach provides no further detail about how this mastery is achieved or what precisely it means to become attuned to a situation. We here present an agent-based model to show how sensorimotor attunement can be understood as a dynamic and non-representational process in which a particular sensorimotor coordination is enacted as a response to a given environmental context, without requiring deliberative action selection.
Artificial Life, Dec 1, 2011
We use a minimal model of metabolism-based chemotaxis to show how a coupling between metabolism a... more We use a minimal model of metabolism-based chemotaxis to show how a coupling between metabolism and behavior can affect evolutionary dynamics in a process we refer to as behavioral metabolution. This mutual influence can function as an in-the-moment, intrinsic evaluation of the adaptive value of a novel situation, such as an encounter with a compound that activates new metabolic pathways. Our model demonstrates how changes to metabolic pathways can lead to improvement of behavioral strategies, and conversely, how behavior can contribute to the exploration and fixation of new metabolic pathways. These examples indicate the potentially important role that the interplay between behavior and metabolism could have played in shaping adaptive evolution in early life and protolife. We argue that the processes illustrated by these models can be interpreted as an unorthodox instantiation of the principles of evolution by random variation and selective retention. We then discuss how the interaction between metabolism and behavior can facilitate evolution through (i) increasing exposure to environmental variation, (ii) making more likely the fixation of some beneficial metabolic pathways, (iii) providing a mechanism for in-the-moment adaptation to changes in the environment and to changes in the organization of the organism itself, and (iv) generating conditions that are conducive to speciation.
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Books by Ezequiel Di Paolo
Sensorimotor Life draws on current theoretical developments in the enactive approach to life and mind. It examines and expands the premises of the sciences of the human mind, while developing an alternative picture closer to people's daily experiences. Enactive ideas are applied and extended, providing a theoretically rich, naturalistic account of meaning and agency. The book includes a dynamical systems description of different types of sensorimotor regularities or sensorimotor contingencies; a dynamical interpretation of Piaget's theory of equilibration to ground the concept of sensorimotor mastery; and a theory of agency as organized networks of sensorimotor schemes, as well as its implications for embodied subjectivity.
Written for students and researchers of cognitive science, the authors offer a fuller view of the mind, a view better attuned to the experiences of people who live, work, love, struggle, and age, thrown into a world of meaningful relations they help create. Additionally, the book is of interest to neuroscientists, psychiatrists, and philosophers of science.
Papers by Ezequiel Di Paolo
Sensorimotor Life draws on current theoretical developments in the enactive approach to life and mind. It examines and expands the premises of the sciences of the human mind, while developing an alternative picture closer to people's daily experiences. Enactive ideas are applied and extended, providing a theoretically rich, naturalistic account of meaning and agency. The book includes a dynamical systems description of different types of sensorimotor regularities or sensorimotor contingencies; a dynamical interpretation of Piaget's theory of equilibration to ground the concept of sensorimotor mastery; and a theory of agency as organized networks of sensorimotor schemes, as well as its implications for embodied subjectivity.
Written for students and researchers of cognitive science, the authors offer a fuller view of the mind, a view better attuned to the experiences of people who live, work, love, struggle, and age, thrown into a world of meaningful relations they help create. Additionally, the book is of interest to neuroscientists, psychiatrists, and philosophers of science.
The enactive approach is neither individualistic, nor interactionist. However, we express skepticism regarding the usefulness of hybrid approaches, which perpetuate dualistic distinctions between mind and body. Instead, the tensions in the notion of participatory sense-making are elaborated dialectically, demonstrating how complex forms of social agency, including language, develop from the primordial tension in participatory sense-making.
Keywords. Enactive approach. Intersubjectivity. Participatory sense-making. Social cognition. Social interaction.