BS 198 Embodied Cognition with Evan Thompson

Brain Science with Ginger Campbell, MD: Neuroscience for Everyone

This month's episode of Brain Science is a free encore playing of my interview with Evan Thompson about his book Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind. We discuss how the enactive approach to embodied cognition offers potential clues to the mystery of how the brain can generate Consciousness. A free episode transcript is also available.

This is the 2nd of two free encore episodes that are being shared to give listeners a taste of the diverse content available to Premium subscribers. Premium subscribers have access to over 100 additional episodes of Brain Science along with episode transcripts.

The embodied cognition movement is an approach within cognitive neuroscience that includes philosophers, neuroscientists, psychologists and computer scientists. The key idea is that cognition, which includes thinking and decision-making, is inseparable from embodiment. This is not just because it requires sensory inputs to the brain, but also because moving in the world is a key component. Thus embodied cognition does not see this as a passive input/output process, but as something that requires constant interaction with the world via the body.

Links and References:

• Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind by Evan Thompson
• The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience by Francisco J. Varela, Evan T. Thompson, Eleanor Rosch
• Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy by Evan Thompson (follow-up interview BSP 115)
• Evan Thompson, PhD, University of British Columbia
• Please visit http://brainsciencepodcast.com for additional references and episode transcripts.

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