Welcome the Newest Faculty Committee Member: Georg Theiner
COGNITIVE SCIENCE
Letter from the Director
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elcome to the inaugural issue of the Cognitive ScienceNewsletter! The Villanova Cognitive Science program, founded in 2001, is one of the largest programs on campus, attracting students from a variety of disciplines including
Psychology, Computer Science, Philosophy, Biology, and Engineering. The Newsletter will be published biannually, and provide information about program events, faculty, student and alumni activities, curriculum
issues, and upcoming conferences and programs relevant to Cognitive Science.
You can also follow us (and Like us!) on Facebook
(facebook.com/VUCogSci) as well as through our program website at (villanova.edu/
villanova/artsci/cogsci).
Finally, free to contact me with any questions, suggestions or comments about the program (Charles.folk@villanova.edu;
610-519-7464).
- Chip Folk, Director
B
orn in Vienna, Georg Theiner received a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the U.S. He earned his Ph.D.in Philosophy, together with a Joint Ph.D. in Cognitive Science and a Minor in the History &
Philosophy of Science, at Indiana University, Bloomington in 2008. From 2008 to 2010, he was a Killam Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Alberta. He has wide-ranging research interests in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science, particularly the “extended mind” thesis and various
forms of socially distributed cognition (for further information, see http://villanova.academia.edu/
GeorgTheiner). He regularly referees papers for Philosophical Psychology, Phenomenology and Cognitive Science, The Review of Philosophy and Psychology, Cognitive Science, Topics in Cognitive Science, and Cognitive Systems Research. Georg Theiner joined the Department of Philosophy at Villanova University as Assistant Professor in the fall of 2011. Dr. Theiner has also joined the Cognitive Science program as a faculty committee member.
Spring 2012 Contents
Letter from the Director 1 Welcome Dr. Georg Theiner 1 Faculty News:
Dr. Georg Theiner, the newest member of the faculty committee, gives a synopsis of his latest book
on the Extended Mind thesis 2 Alumni News:
Shannon Topper tells how an interdisciplinary approach helps in her research in the Developmental Psychology Master’s program at
Teachers College 3
Recent Events:
A recap of this semester’s
events 3
Need to Know:
Important information about registration for the Fall upcoming events in the field 3
F
or René Descartes (1596-1650), considered by many the “father of modern philosophy,” minds and bodies are fundamentally different kinds of entities. For Descartes, the essence of the mind is to be a thinking yet non- extended thing (res cogitans), whereas the essence of the body is to be an extended yet non- thinking thing (res extensa). In stark contrast to Descartes’mind-body dualism,
contemporary cognitive science prides itself on having exorcised the Cartesian ghost from the biological machine. However, it seemingly remains committed to the Cartesian vision of the mental as something purely inner. Against the idea that the mind resides solely in the brain, advocates of the situated and embodied nature of cognition have long stressed the
importance of dynamic brain- body-environment couplings, the opportunistic exploitation of bodily morphology, the strategic performance of epistemically potent actions, the generation and use of external
representations, and the cognitive scaffolding provided by artifacts and social-cultural practices. According to the extended mind thesis (Clark &
Chalmers, 1998; Clark, 2008), a significant portion of human cognition literally extends beyond the brain into the body and its environment. My book aims to clarify the nature and the scope of this thesis, and to defend its central insight that cognition is not confined to the boundaries of the biological individual.
While our modern-day
“Cartesian materialists” readily acknowledge the empirical insights which have been gained from situated and embodied approaches to cognition, they are typically reluctant to embrace the more radical-sounding implication that bodily and worldly resources may be literally constitutive vehicles of extended cognition, and
continue to treat them merely as sources of input for cognition-in- the-head. Such reluctance may well be the symptom of a tacit
“Cartesian” assumption that there must be an indelible “mark of the mental” – an essential feature of mental states – that is only found in the brain. As a way of eroding this persisting dogma of cognitive science, consider Gregory Bateson’s famous parable:
“Suppose I am a blind man, and I use a stick. I go tap, tap, tap. Where do I start? Is my mental system
Faculty News: Dr. Georg Theiner’s Latest Book
Continued on page 4 bounded at the handle of the stick? Is it bounded by my skin? Does it start halfway up the stick? Does it start at the tip of the stick? But these are nonsense questions. The stick is a pathway along which transforms of difference are being transmitted. The way to delineate the system is to draw the limiting line in such a way that you do not cut any of these pathways in ways which leave things inexplicable” (Bateson, 1972).
Embracing Bateson’s healthy dose of pragmatism, my defense of the extended mind thesis is predicated on showing two things: first, that psychologists and cognitive scientists
sometimes profitably treat neural, bodily, and bio-external resources as parts of a single, hybrid system (or process); second, that we have good reasons to consider such systems (or processes) as cognitive. In the course of my book, I present several arguments for extended cognition that are firmly rooted in two successful explanatory frameworks of cognitive science:
computationalist functionalism and dynamicism. Those two frameworks are sometimes seen as mutually incompatible
approaches to the study of mind and cognition. From our own ecumenical vantage point, however, I offer a reconstruction of both approaches that provides two converging lines of evidence against the persisting dogma of Cartesian materialism, and in favor of our hybrid vision of the extended mind thesis.
Res cogitans extensa:
A Philosophical Defense of the
Extended Mind Thesis
by Georg Theiner, Ph.D.What follows is a synopsis of the book written by the author.
Recent Events
• The Spring edition of the Villanova Cognitive Science Colloquium series was held on March 3rd, with a stimulating visit by Dr. Larry Barsalou from Emory University. Dr. Barsalou, a world-renown Cognitive Scientist, presented a talk entitled
“Grounding Knowledge in the Brain’s Modal Systems.” Contrary to the “classic” notion that conceptual knowledge is
represented in a semantic memory system that is abstract, symbolic, and distinct from perceptual and motor systems, Dr.
Barsalou presented a variety of behavioral and neurophysiological evidence to support his thesis that conceptual
social interaction. In attempting to more fully understand the underlying mechanisms, I have also focused on the central coherence and executive
dysfunction theories of autism. I was also involved in a research practicum exploring maternal
Alumni News: Shannon Topper
adjustment outcomes and variables affecting the maternal need for mothering. Currently, I am working as a research
assistant on a project evaluating an early intervention program for very at-risk mothers and babies. I will receive my degree in May, after which time, I will begin a clinical internship in Child Life at the Children’s Hospital at
Montefiore.
In my coursework so far, I have benefitted a great deal from my Cognitive Science minor, as it has instilled in me the necessity of taking an interdisciplinary
perspective when exploring different areas of development.
My base of knowledge in physiological psychology, cognitive psychology, computer
W
hile at Villanova, Iobtained a Psychology major and Cognitive Science and Theology minors. Since graduating from Villanova in May 2010, I moved to New York City and have been completing a Master’s program in Developmental Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia
University. Thus far, I have had the opportunity to partake in a number of
research endeavors, including independent research on autism and theory of mind as well as lab research on risk and resilience mechanisms among affluent families. In exploring theory of mind among children with autism, I am interested in the specific deficit in mentalizing that
may account for difficulties in Continued on page 4
knowledge is represented and activated by the same brain mechanisms responsible for perception and motor action.
• The Cognitive Science program recently co- sponsored a talk Dr. Mark Greenberg as part the Education and Counseling Week program in the Department of Education and Counseling. Dr.
Greenberg, who is the Director of the Prevention Research Center and Professor of Human
Development and Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, presented a talk entitled “Nurturing Mindfulness in Families, Schools and Youth:
Advancing the Science and Practice of Awareness and Caring.” In a very interesting and informative talk, Dr. Greenberg reviewed the mounting
scientific evidence (much of it from his own lab) for the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation in treatment settings and in prevention or health promotion contexts.
Dr. Larry Barsalou
The dynamicist route refers to the organization of cognitive and sensorimotor processes which arise from the densely coupled interactions between brain, body, and environment. Because of the complex, nested, and highly non-linear nature of these interactions, it is often
impossible to understand the dynamics of these hybrid systems by means of traditional
“decomposition and
localization” strategies (Bechtel
& Richardson, 1993). I argue that the dynamicist stance in cognitive science supports a distinctive “top-down”
explanatory style that reveals how cognitively relevant properties of component parts are determined by their
participation in the system as a whole. What makes such a dynamical system cognitive is the capacity of integrated brain- body-environment systems to generate particular types of intelligent behavior.
The computationalist route is based on a detailed case study of syllogistic reasoning processes that involve the manipulation of external representational
systems (e.g., Euler Circles).
When mental representations are posited as theoretical entities in computationalist cognitive science, they are expected to do double-duty: first, they ought to have the right kind of semantic content; second, they ought to play a causal role in the
production of intelligent behavior. I argue that in the
programming, and philosophy of mind have proven critical as I have explored children’s
cognitive development, cognition and learning, and atypical development in my current coursework.
Specifically, in focusing on the developing mind of the child, I have relied heavily upon my understanding of neurobiology, the interplay between the brain and the mind, and the
characteristics of intelligent behavior. Beyond even the immediate influence of my background in cognitive science, I have benefitted from the emphasis placed on
interdisciplinary conversation.
An understanding of human development requires an integration of many fields, and an openness to a holistic approach is critical in tackling research questions of
development. This
interdisciplinary perspective that I have gained through the
cognitive science program will be of great import in my future academic and professional endeavors.
Faculty News
(Continued) Alumni News
(Continued) context that I describe, neither
internal nor external
resources by themselves have the right functional profile to satisfy both the semantic and the causal requirements at once. To guide our behavior, external symbolic
representations are dependent on neural
mechanisms that operate on perceptually grounded internal representations of those external symbols;
however, those inner mechanisms are dependent on external representations to have their syllogistic content fixed. Only their functional integration qualifies the extended computational process as an episode of properly speaking syllogistic reasoning.
Our collective fascination with liminal beings – creatures such as centaurs, ghosts, or cyborgs – that are seemingly caught between two natures and thus elude conventional systems of classification – is well-documented in a large body of cultural folklore and literary fiction (Turner, 1969).
If the main line of reasoning in Res cogitans extensa is sound, we can add yet another, non-fictional entity to this list: the embodied, embedded, and enculturated human mind.
Faculty Committee
Director Charles Folk, Ph.D.
Professor Dept. of Psychology charles.folk@villanova.edu
Robert Beck, Ph.D.
Chairperson and Professor Dept. of Computing Sciences
robert.beck@villanova.edu
Michael Brown, Ph.D.
Director, Graduate Programs in Psychology
Professor Dept. of Psychology michael.brown@villanova.edu
Mary Papalaskari, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor Dept. of Computing Sciences mary.papalaskari@villanova.edu
Georg Theiner, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor Dept. of Philosophy georg.theiner@villanova.edu
Thomas Toppino, Ph.D.
Chairperson and Professor Dept. of Psychology thomas.toppino@villanova.edu April 26:
Bryn Mawr Computer Vision Colloquium
"Focusing Human Attention on the 'Right' Visual Data"
Kristen Grauman
Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Texas at Austin 4:00pm-5:00pm
Room 243 (Physics Lecture Hall), Park Science Building
June 3-16: University of Pennsylvania's Undergraduate Workshop in Cognitive Science and Cognitive Neuroscience
June 4-15: New England Complex Systems Institute Summer School at MIT, Cambridge, Mass.
Aug. 1-3: CogSci 2012, the 34th annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society will be held in Sapporo, Japan
Mark Your Calendar
Freshman, Sophomores, and Juniors:
Have you registered for Fall classes yet? Make sure you are
planning ahead to stay on track with your Cognitive Science minor or concentration. The core courses that will be offered in the fall are:
PSY 4500 – Cognitive Psychology –and CSC 1051 Aglorithms and Data Structures
If you have any questions about registration, please contact Dr.
Folk (charles.folk@villanova.edu) Seniors:
Graduation is just around the corner! As final grades come in, we will make sure the Registrar is notified of all completed minors and concentrations.
Keep in touch as you move on to build your careers! We’d love to be able to feature you in an up coming newsletter, so let us know of any exciting changes. You can email the Cognitive Science program direcly at VUCogSci@gmail.com.
FYI: Important Information for Current Students
Today's AI is about new ways of connecting people to computers, people to knowledge,
people to the physical world, and people to people.
-Dr. Patrick Winston, MIT CSAIL
