This chapter addresses the topic of how embodied neural agents coordinate together to exhibit interesting social behaviors. Embodied neural agents are defined in this Introduction. Sections 2 through 5 describe simulations of collective phenomena emerging from the interactions among embodied neural agents living in the same environment. Section 2 discusses spatial aggregation and proto-social b...

Embodied computation is computation in which information processing emerges from and directly governs physical processes. As an example we present artificial morphogenesis, which uses computational processes analogous to those in embryological development in order to assemble complex physical structures. We discuss the requirements for a formalism or programming language for embodied computatio...

It is critical to understand environmental impacts embodied in the bilateral trade between China and the United States, given the political, economic, and geographical importance of the two countries and the fact that few studies have investigated this before. This article studies the environmental impacts, particularly energy consumption and air emissions, embodied in the eastbound (from China...

Embodied cognition is a theoretical framework which posits that cognitive function is intimately intertwined with the body and physical actions. Although the field of psychology is increasingly accepting embodied cognition as a viable theory, it has rarely been employed in the gerontological literature. However, embodied cognition would appear to have explanatory power for aging research given ...

Can an embodied approach to social cognition accommodate mindreading, our ability to attribute mental states to another person? Prima facie it might not. Mindreading has been conceived in terms of what Susan Hurley calls the classical sandwich picture of the mind. On this view, perception corresponds to input from world to mind, action to output from mind to world, and cognition as sandwiched i...

We explore implications of new results from control theory – the Data Rate Theorem – for theories of embodied cognition. A conceptual extension of the theorem can be applied to models of cognitive interaction with a complex dynamic environment, providing a spectrum of necessary conditions dynamic statistical models that should be useful in empirical studies. Using a large deviations argument, p...

A recent trend in ubiquitous computing is the development of new forms of interfaces, which rely on embodied interaction. We focus on the definition of embodiment that refers to the ways in which abstract concepts rely on metaphorical extensions of embodied schemata shaped by processes below the level of conscious awareness as explored by Lakoff and Johnson [Lakoff, G., Johnson, M., 1980. Metap...

Health research has shown that overweight and obesity in children and adults are becoming significant public health problems in the developing world. Evidence suggests that this phenomenon is more marked in urban than rural areas and may be associated with modernization. However, the underlying reasons for this nutrition transition remain unclear. Dietary shifts, often in conjunction with incom...

The central representation of numerical cognition is commonly considered an abstract magnitude representation serving as one key precursor for higher mathematical thinking. However, recent research indicates that the representation might not be purely abstract. In fact, accumulating evidence suggests that numerical representations are rooted in and shaped by specific motor activities and sensor...

Embodied cognition represents one of most important theoretical developments in contemporary cognitive science. Many cognitive processes appear to be influenced by body morphology, emotions, and sensorimotor systems. This perspective is supported by an ever increasing collection of empirical studies that fall into two broad classes: one consisting of experiments that implicate action, emotion, ...