icsc welcome presentation

ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied Cognition”

Space and Embodied Cognition

WELCOMEWELCOMEto the fifth edition of the

International Conference of Space CognitionBy Marta Olivetti Belardinelli

Space and Space and Embodied Embodied CognitionCognition


ICSC 20002000: Spatial cognition: Scientific Research and Application

• 3 Keynotes: Michel Denis Michel Denis (Paris)

Hanspeter A. Mallot Hanspeter A. Mallot (Tuebingen)

Jonathan R. Wolpaw Jonathan R. Wolpaw (Albany)

• 5 Symposia• 6 Oral sessions• 1 Poster session• 1 Demo session

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ICSC 2003:2003: European year of People with disability Space and Disability

• 4 Keynotes: Jerome E. BickenbachJerome E. Bickenbach (New Kork)

Luigi Pizzamiglio Luigi Pizzamiglio (Rome)

Alan Roulstone Alan Roulstone (Sunderland)

Marcia J. Scherer Marcia J. Scherer (Rochester)

• 7 Oral sessions• 1 Poster session• 1 Demo session

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ICSC 2006:2006: Dynamics inSpatial Interactions

• 4 Keynotes: Paolo CalabresiPaolo Calabresi (Perugia)

Albert Postma Albert Postma (Utrecht)

Charles Spence Charles Spence (Oxford)

Cees van Leeuwen Cees van Leeuwen

• 6 Symposia• 14 Oral sessions• 3 Poster sessions

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ICSC 2009:2009: Spatial Cognition and Action

• 4 Keynotes: Christian FreksaChristian Freksa (Bremen)

Juan Lupianez Juan Lupianez (Granada)

Thomas C. Ormerod Thomas C. Ormerod (Lancaster)

Barbara Barbara TverskyTversky (Stanford)

• 12 Symposia• 14 Oral sessions• 2 Poster sessions• 8 Tutorials

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ICSC 2012: 2012: Space and Embodied CognitionSpace and Embodied Cognition

• 5 Keynotes: Alain BerthozAlain Berthoz (Paris)

Marc Ernst Marc Ernst (Bielefeld)

Luciano Fadiga Luciano Fadiga (Ferrara)

Karl Friston Karl Friston (London)

MichaelMichael Spiveyy (Merced)

• 18 Symposia• 12 Oral sessions• 8 Poster sessions

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Participants to ICSC 2012

• First of all I want to thank all the participants to this Conference:

• Among 252 participants:• 194 are from Europe

• 9 from Asia• 42 from North America • 3 from South America• 3 from Oceania


Alain Berthoz “Neural basis of changing perspective in spatial orientation and navigation. Implication for empathy”

Marc Ernst “Human multisensory perception and action - Putting the puzzle together”

Karl Friston “Active inference and spatial cognition”

Luciano Fadiga “The motor framework of peripersonal space”

Michael Spivey “The spatial intersection of minds”

Thanks to: .................our Keynotes


Thanks to: ...........our Scientific Committee• Thomas Hünefeldt – (Rome)• Antonio Jesus Bandera Rubio (Malaga) • Anna M. Borghi (Bologne)• Alessandro D’Ausilio (Genova)• Franco Delogu (Detroit)• Michel Denis (Paris)• Dina Di Giacomo (L’Aquila) • Stefano Federici (Perugia)• Ken Forbus (Evanston), • Dedre Gentner (Evanston)• Cecilia Guariglia (Rome)• Stephen Hirtle (Pittsburgh) • Christoph Hoelscher (Freiburg)• Tina Iachini (Naples)• Elisabetta Ladavas (Bologne)• Emiliano Macaluso (Rome) • Hanspeter Mallot (Tübingen)

• Daniele Nardi (Rome)• Davide Nardo (Rome)• Nora Newcombe (Philadelphia)• Massimiliano Palmiero (L’Aquila)• Francesca Pazzaglia (Padua)• Albert Postma (Utrecht) • Alberto Priori (Milan)• Valerio Santangelo (Perugia)• Marcia Scherer (Rochester) • Kerstin Schill (Bremen)• Werner Schneider (Bielefeld) • Thomas Shipley (Philadelphia),• Boris Suchan (Bochum) • Narayanan Srinivasan (Allahabad)• Barbara Tversky (Stanford) • Cees van Leeuwen (Leuwen)

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...the President of the Organizing Committee

Dr. Thomas Hünefeldt


…and his Lieutenants

Daniele Nardi

Luca Simione

ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied Cognition”My thanks to the Organizing

Committee: the Ladies…

MARIA LAURA MELE

SIMONA ARIANNA

DI FRANCESCO

FEDERICA MAURO OLA HUSSEIN

GISELLA MICCIANTUONO

LINDA PECORIELLOROSANNA VIGNOLA


My thanks to the Organizing Committee: …and the Gentlemen

ALESSANDRO GIANNANDREA

MAURIZIO GIORGIO

GIULIO TIRINELLI


Looking for an exhaustive definitionEmbodied Cognition:• the brain circuits responsible for abstract

thinking are closely tied to those circuits that analyse and process sensory experiences (Isanski & West,2010)

• “Not only … our concrete experience of the physical world(…) can impact our conception of higher order,…. But also these abstract constructs can alter the way we experience the concrete and physical” (Zhong, 2008)

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A broader definition including Agency

“Cognition is embodied when it is deeply dependent upon features of the physical

body of an agent, that is, when aspects of the agent’s body beyond the brain play a

significant causal or physically constitutive role in cognitive processing”

(Wilson & Foglia, 2011)


Mind and Body

the agent’s BodyBody as: • Constraint: Constraint: it constrains the nature and

content of the cognitive representations• DistributorDistributor: it distributes computational and

representational load betweeen neural and non-neural structures

• RegulatorRegulator: it regulates cognitive activity over space and time in motor action


Mind, Body and What else?

We should confront ourselves with:• Situated Cognition• Grounded Cognition• Socially Distributed Cognition• Extended Mind • Consciousness• Agency

….in Space and timeBUT……….


Combining robots with babies

• Embodied cognition reflects the idea that the motor system the motor system influences bodily actionsinfluences bodily actions

• Researchers from Ithaca College in New York are working on a way to fuse babies with robots to give mobility to give mobility to allall babies babies, even those with conditions that may delay independent mobility, like Down syndrome, spina bifida, or cerebral palsy ((WeeBot: a Novel Method for Infant Control of a Robotic Mobility Device, presented last May at ICRA 2012 by S. Stansfield, C. Dennis, & H. Larin)

• With these devices babies can be turned in robot driver: they became able to control the WeeBot in goal-directed movement during periods of free play

• Which is the mind and which the body?


All the topics (problems) to you

• I am sure you will work hard and from my embodied heart I wish you to

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Enjoy the conference

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