The Strangeness of Embodied Cognition

DataHumans are nothing like you imagine and just like the Wii in terms of our movements possibly controlling our minds and vice versa. We are also constantly making strange mind-body connections.

I just read a fascinating NYT article which focused on embodied cognition, which is basically the relationship between our minds and bodies; and according to Wikipedia, is setting off a firestorm in both the philosophy world and the world of AI.

The article mentioned a few studies, all of which indicate our minds and bodies are weirder than we think they are. In one instance, half of the 41 participants in a study were given cups of warm coffee to hold, then asked to describe a person’s personality as warm or cold.  Through the strange mind-body connection, a majority of the people who had held the warm coffee described the person they met as “warm”.

If that is not strange enough for you, another study showed that students who were told that a particular textbook was really important to succeed in the class thought that that textbook was heavier (in actual weight) when they picked the book up.

Researchers have discovered that there are even ramifications for education; if they are used in a correct manner, gestures can sometimes improve a kid’s ability to figure out simple math equations.

If this is all really true, and our bodies and minds are linked in a literal sense, it’s almost like we are all non-native speakers who are not tuned into the subtleties of the language. According to the article, if we say we are looking forward to seeing someone, we lean forward, probably without even thinking about it; in a similar manner, we lean back if we are told to think about the past.

I am not actually sure if we lean to the left when we hear about left-leaning politicians on the news or if the reverse is true.

Philosophers who study embodied cognition like to concern themselves with the notions of dualism and how/if people consider their minds as entities. For example, do people consider their minds as spirits or as their own sense of selves and how does this factor into the equation when the mind-body connection is factored into the equation.

In addition, some (mostly computer and sci-fi geeks) concern themselves with embodied cognition and Artificial Intelligence. As in the case of Data from the “Next Generation”, is it really possible for a machine to attain consciousness?