Stimming and Stereotypy
Critical Studies in Improvisation / Études critiques en improvisation June 17, 2026 DOI: 10.21083/csieci.v17i1.8159 via OpenAlex
Summary
Improvisation is being adopted by three distinct theories of sensory integration: one based on personal experience of sensory dysfunction and extended into autism, another from computational neuroscience via predictive processing, and a third from ecological approaches to action and perception. The latter two models describe their cognitive processes as abductive reasoning, which, when brought into conscious awareness, they term improvisation.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Action physics Consciousness Improvisation Stereotypy Cognition |
| Key finding | Improvisation is identified as conscious abductive reasoning in predictive processing and ecological approaches to action and perception. |
Abstract
This article traces the ways that improvisation is being taken up by three distinct theories of sensory integration. The first stems from my experience of living with sensory dysfunction and extends into theories of autism. The second is the computational neuroscientific theory of predictive processing, and the third is an ecological approach to action and perception. The second and third models put forward the notion of abductive reason as a description of their cognitive processes, which, raised into consciousness they call improvisation.