Embodiment

Disentangling the sense of fairness from the sense of ownership

by Luca Tummolini

Both evolutionary and developmental research indicate that humans are adapted to respecting property rights,... more Both evolutionary and developmental research indicate that humans are adapted to respecting property rights, independently (and possibly orthogonally) to considerations
of fairness. We offer evidence from psychological experiments suggesting that enforcing one's rights and respecting others' possessions is a basic cognitive mechanism, automatically activated and grounded in humans' sensory-motor system.
This may entail an independent motivation that is more profound than considerations of fairness and impartiality.

On psychology and embodiment: some methodological experiments

by john cromby

To judge a book by its weight you need to know its content: Knowledge moderates the use of embodied weight cues

by Jesse Chandler

Epistemological and Phenomenological Issues in the use of Brain-Computer Interfacess

by Richard Heersmink

In C. Ess, & R. Hagengruber (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Association for Computing and Philosophy 2011 (pp. 98-102). Münster: MV-Wissenschaft.

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are an emerging and converging technology that translates the brain activity of its... more Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are an emerging and converging technology that translates the brain activity of its user into command signals for external devices, ranging from motorized wheelchairs, robotic hands, environmental control systems, and computer applications. In this paper I functionally decompose BCI systems and categorize BCI applications with similar functional properties into three categories, those with (1) motor, (2) virtual, and (3) linguistic applications. I then analyse the relationship between these distinct BCI applications and their users from an epistemological and phenomenological perspective. Specifically, I analyse functional properties of BCIs in relation to the abilities (particularly motor behaviour and communication) of their human users, asking how they may or may not extend these abilities. This includes a phenomenological analysis of whether BCIs are experienced as transparent extensions. Contrary to some recent philosophical claims, I conclude that, although BCIs have the potential to become bodily as well as cognitive extensions for skilled users, at this stage they are not. And while the electrodes and signal processor may to a variable degree be transparent and incorporated, the BCI system as a whole is not. Contemporary BCIs are difficult to use. Most systems only work in highly controlled laboratory settings, require a high amount of training and concentration, have very limited control options, have low and variable information transfer rates, and effector motions are often slow, clumsy and sometimes unsuccessful. These drawbacks considerably limit their possibilities for transparency and incorporation into either the body schema or cognitive system which is essential for bodily and cognitive extension. Current BCIs can therefore only be seen as a weak or metaphorical extension of the human central nervous system. To increase their potential for cognitive extension, I give suggestions for improving the interface design of what I refer to as linguistic applications.

Inhibition and reappraisal within emotional disclosure: the embodying of narration

by john cromby

Co-Author: D.Ellis

The emotional disclosure paradigm (EDP) associates better health with repeated disclosure of emotional experiences.... more The emotional disclosure paradigm (EDP) associates better health with repeated disclosure of emotional experiences. However, disclosure does not bring health benefits for all, and neither does the EDP adequately specify embodied mechanisms or neural pathways whereby benefits might be produced. This paper addresses these issues by offering more sophisticated notions of emotional inhibition and cognitive reappraisal. It then outlines aspects of the somatic marker hypothesis which supports a more comprehensive conceptualization of the processes that may enable both the positive and negative health effects of disclosure.

Creating subjectivities

by john cromby

Depression: embodying social inequality

by john cromby

Social psychology and the empirical body: Rethinking the relationship

by john cromby

Although social science work on the body has demonstrated its thorough socialisation, social psychology has barely... more Although social science work on the body has demonstrated its thorough socialisation, social psychology has barely recognised the mutual interdependence of the physical body and the social world. Accordingly, we propose that social psychology might be enriched and extended by detailed investigation of changes in the activity of the empirical body alongside processes of meaning-making during social interaction. We illustrate our proposal with a case study of changes in blood pressure during conversation, explored in conjunction with analyses using four discursive frames: gaining voice; identity negotiation; joint action/knowing of the third kind; positioning theory. We argue that this approach challenges the artificial separation of social psychology from other sub-disciplines, might inform social psychological analyses of emotion and belief, and allows it to address substantive topics, such as psychopathology, which it typically largely excludes.

The Neuroscience of the Tragic Mask

by Peter Meineck

Arion 19.1 2011

The Greek tragic mask was the focus of the entire visual and emotional experience of ancient drama. The close... more The Greek tragic mask was the focus of the entire visual and emotional experience of ancient drama. The close coordination of masked movement with music, song, and spoken word allowed the ambiguity of the mask to provoke a highly personal response in the mind of each individual spectator. Their neural processing mechanisms would have been stimulated by the context of what was presented, and then fired to create a deeply personal emotional image. In this way, the visual ambiguity of the mask greatly enhanced the presentation of tragedy. Thus, the tragic mask was far more powerful that the real face of an actor, as it constantly changed, reflecting the emotional realities of each person sitting before its compelling gaze.

Embodied ethnicity the ethnic affiliation grounded in the body

by Delphine Dion

Alsmith & de Vignemont 2012 Embodying the mind and representing the body

by Adrian Alsmith

Co-authored with Frédérique de Vignemont. Intro to special issue of the Review of Philosophy & Psychology that we guest edited:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/1878-5158/3/1/

Does the existence of body representations undermine the explanatory role of the body? Or do certain types of... more Does the existence of body representations undermine the explanatory role of the body? Or do certain types of representation depend so closely upon the body that their involvement in a cognitive task implicates the body itself? In the introduction of this special issue we explore lines of tension and complement that might hold between the notions of embodiment and body representations, which remain too often neglected or obscure. To do so, we distinguish two conceptions of embodiment that either put weight on the explanatory role of the body itself or body representations. We further analyse how and to what extent body representations can be said to be embodied. Finally, we give an overview of the full volume articulated around foundational issues (How should we define the notion of embodiment? To what extent and in what sense is embodiment compatible with representationalism? To what extent and in what sense are sensorimotor approaches similar to behaviourism?) and their applications in several cognitive domains (perception, concepts, selfhood, social cognition).

Smith, AJT 2010 Comment: Minimal conditions for the simplest form of self-consciousness

by Adrian Alsmith

Commentary on http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2008.10.003
Published in The embodied self: Dimensions, coherence, disorders (pp. 35 – 41). Stuttgart: Schattauer

Commuting Bodies Move, Creatively

by Astrida Neimanis

Commuting Bodies Move, Creatively

by Astrida Neimanis

Cyborg spaces and monstrous places: critical geographic engagements with Harawayan theory

by Emma Roe

Co-Authored with MW Wilson, M Hickey, J Craine, L Fawcett, A Oberhauser, T Warkentin Published in Aether. The Journal of Media Geography 8 (A), 42-67

Donna Haraway’s contribution to the theorization of feminist, post-structural and radical geographies has been... more Donna Haraway’s contribution to the theorization of feminist, post-structural and radical geographies has been immense, and critical scholars working across the spectrum have drawn on her work as part of larger projects rethinking the epistemological and ontological foundations of modern geography.
The purpose of this conversation, held at the 2010 aag meetings in Washington, D.C., was to bring together a diverse field of geographers who are currently engaging with Haraway's work. We hoped to foster this conference space in order to share research and to grapple with the possibilities and limitations of Harawayian thought as it has and continues to open
up new spaces across the discipline – both theoretically and practically. To that end, we welcomed panelists that engage with any aspect of Haraway's work, and encouraged participation from a wide variety of geographic sub-fields, including, but not limited to: anti-essentialist feminist research praxis, cyborg politics, relational ontologies, hybrid epistemologies, impure landscapes, god-trickery, inappropriate/d others, companion species,
and (non)human/techno-bio-nature-science relationships.

From Ethical Principles to Response-Able Practice

by Emma Roe

Co-authored with Beth Greenhough, Published in Environment and Planning D: Society and Space

Material Connectivity, the Immaterial and the Aesthetic of Eating Practices: An Argument for How Genetically Modified Foodstuff Becomes Inedible

by Emma Roe

Published in Environment and Planning A 2006.

Concern about eating biotechnologically produced foodstuffs is embedded within the complex relationship between food,... more Concern about eating biotechnologically produced foodstuffs is embedded within the complex relationship between food, science, politics, and everyday eating practices. In this paper I consider how this concern is expressed less at the reflexive level of opinions and attitudes and more at the nonreflexive level of eating practices. Therefore, I draw upon literatures that talk of a practical everyday aesthetic and literatures that assert the significance of the material to geographical work, and go on to argue for the significance of a material connective aesthetic within eating practices. This argument is developed empirically and theoretically by considering to what extent consumers can discuss the edibility of different types of carrots in terms of superficial material qualities, integral material qualities, and the immaterial. Crucially, the process of edibility formation is thus understood as relationally embedded in the material environment. This provokes a realisation for an ethics and a politics of (im)material connectivities. This work contributes to geographical work in which an embodied affective ethic is employed, by arguing that the transversal qualities of the material are as significant as the transversal qualities of `affect'. It is relevant to those studying consumption, biogeographies, and nonreflexive practices.

Editorial: Towards a geography of bodily technologies

by Emma Roe

Co-authored with Beth Greenhough, Queen Mary University of London. Published in Environment and Planning A, 2006

Measuring Temperature with the iButton – A Quick Guide

by Hans IJzerman

From expressive gesture to sound: the development of an embodied mapping trajectory inside a musical interface

by Pieter-Jan Maes

This paper contributes to the development of a multimodal, musical tool that extends the natural action range of the... more This paper contributes to the development of a multimodal, musical tool that extends the natural action range of the human body to communicate expressiveness into the virtual music domain. The core of this musical tool consists of a low cost, highly functional computational model developed upon the Max/MSP platform that (1) captures real-time movement of the human body into a 3D coordinate system on the basis of the orientation output of any type of inertial sensor system that is OSC-compatible, (2) extract low-level movement features that specify the amount of contraction/expansion as a measure of how a subject uses the surrounding space, (3) recognizes these movement features as being expressive gestures, and (4) creates a mapping trajectory between these expressive gestures and the sound synthesis process of adding harmonic related voices on an in origin monophonic voice. The concern for a user-oriented and intuitive mapping strategy was thereby of central importance. This was achieved by conducting an empirical experiment based on theoretical concepts from the embodied music cognition paradigm. Based on empirical evidence, this paper proposes a mapping trajectory that facilitates the interaction between a musician and his instrument, the artistic collaboration between (multimedia) artists and the communication of expressiveness in a social, musical
context.