Making Enactivism Even More Embodied

An enactivist approach to the mind goes beyond action and sensory-motor processes, incorporating affectivity and intersubjectivity. Affectivity in a broad sense—including hunger, fatigue, pain, respiration, and emotion—influences perception, attention, and judgment, as shown by empirical studies. Intersubjective factors such as bodily postures, movements, gestures, gaze, facial expressions, and dynamic interactions similarly affect cognition. This richer embodied view also has implications for understanding brain function.

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Abstract

An enactivist approach to understanding the mind, in its fullest sense, is not just a matter of action-oriented processes; enactivism is about more than action and sensory–motor contingencies. To understand cognition as richly embodied this chapter considers factors involving affectivity and intersubjectivity. Empirical studies show that affectivity, in a wide sense that includes hunger, fatigue, pain, respiration, as well as emotion, has an effect on perception, attention, and judgment. Likewise, intersubjective factors, including the role of bodily postures, movements, gestures, gaze and facial expressions, and dynamical aspects of interaction, have similar effects. This richer conception of embodied cognition also holds implications for understanding how the brain works.