PsyArXiv
June 11, 2026
Thaeny Regina Ribeiro Rodrigues, Diego Frank Marques Cavalcante, Caio Maximino
preprint
Animal behavior is not just mechanical reaction to stimuli but involves active meaning-making. This paper combines two theories—enactivism and biosemiotics—to argue that animals interpret signs in their environment through embodied interaction. The alarm reaction of zebrafish to conspecific alarm substance is analyzed as a semiotic process: the chemical signal is a sign that points to predation risk, and its meaning arises from the fish's sensorimotor engagement with its social and ecological context. This 'embodied semiosis' occurs at individual and collective levels, as shoals collectively interpret danger. The framework offers testable predictions and an alternative to purely representational accounts of adaptive behavior, applicable across species including humans.
Integrative psychological & behavioral science
December 29, 2025
Adriana Damascena Da Silva Santos, Caio Maximino
Memory is not a static mental storehouse but a dynamic, mediated activity shaped by social and material contexts. This argument emerges from a synthesis of enactivist theories and cultural-historical activity theory, both of which reject internalist models of cognition. The integration centers on the dialectical interplay of internalization and externalization, where psychological functions develop through engagement with tools, signs, and social practices. The concept of functional organs from activity theory parallels enactivist notions of embodied and extended cognition. Levels of processing theory is incorporated to show that cognitive depth arises from meaningful, socially mediated interaction. Labor exemplifies how memory becomes sedimented in material culture through cooperative activity and ecological norm development.
Adriana Damascena Da Silva Santos, Caio Maximino
Memory is not a static mental storehouse but a dynamic, socially embedded activity shaped by tools, signs, and social practices. This paper synthesizes enactivist theories of memory with cultural-historical activity theory, both of which reject internalist models of cognition. The integration centers on the dialectical interplay of internalization and externalization, where psychological functions emerge through engagement with the environment. The concept of functional organs in activity theory parallels enactivist ideas of embodied and extended cognition. Levels of processing theory is incorporated to show that cognitive depth arises from meaningful, socially mediated interaction.