The Cambridge Handbook of Situated Cognition [Paperback]

This book is a guide to a movement in cognitive science showing how environmental and bodily structure shapes cognition.This is a state-of-the-art guide to this new movement in cognitive science. Each chapter tackles either a specific area of empirical research or specific sector of the conceptual foundation underlying this research.This is a state-of-the-art guide to this new movement in cognitive science. Each chapter tackles either a specific area of empirical research or specific sector of the conceptual foundation underlying this research.Since its inception some fifty years ago, cognitive science has seen a number of sea changes. Perhaps the best known is the development of connectionist models of cognition as an alternative to classical, symbol-based approaches. A more recent - and increasingly influential - trend is that of dynamical-systems-based, ecologically oriented models of the mind. Researchers suggest that a full understanding of the mind will require systematic study of the dynamics of interaction between mind, body, and world. Some argue that this new orientation calls for a revolutionary new metaphysics of mind, according to which mental states and processes, and even persons, literally extend into the environment. This is a state-of-the-art guide to this new movement in cognitive science. Each chapter tackles either a specific area of empirical research or specific sector of the conceptual foundation underlying this research.Part I. Backdrop: 1. A short primer on situated cognition Philip Robbins and Murat Aydede; 2. Scientific antecedents of situated cognition William J. Clancey; 3. Philosophical antecedents of situated cognition Shaun Gallagher; Part II. Conceptual Foundations: 4. How to situate cognition: letting nature take its course Robert A. Wilson and Andy Clark; 5. Why the mind is still in the head Fred Adams and Kenneth Aizawa; 6. Innateness and the situated mind Robert Rupert; 7. Situated representation Mark Rowlands; 8. Dynamics, contlSÑ