8/9/2019 Leipzig Poster Presentation-Final Version

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scourge of the farmer Pressing the Flesh: a Transcranial,

Holistic and Environmentally Augmented Approach to Cognition 

he Extended Mind Thesis (EMT)

ntend to endorse a Complementarity based version ofe EMT, according to which external elements “may play a 

le different from, but complementary to, the inner ones” .lark, 2001).

my account, internal and external resources are

erged together and deeply integrated into thegnitive system so as to give rise to augmented

ccurrences. The EMT thus leaves the door open forogressive augmentation and cognitive extension.

The vOICE

To this extent, I take the vOICe as my case study. The vOICe

(below) works by mapping live camera images onto sounds. Bytesting neural plasticity and exploring cross-modal multisensory

integration, it allows the user to experience object localizationand form recognition.

Which sensory modality does the

“acquired perception” belong to?

Prima facie, it seems that the goal of SSDs is to re-establish a

lost sense. But do they genuinely do so? Do they merely replaceone sensory modality with another? Or are they delivering a new

form of perception?

I argue that the acquired perception obtained is a new form of

perception, one that cannot be experienced without thedynamical coupling with such devices.

Incorporation and Cognitive Dovetailing

Incorporation occurs when the user ceases to feel the sensations

from the device. This happens when the perceiver has learnedhow to cope with the apparatus.

When a perceiver can fluently use an SSD to perceive hisenvironment what results is a dovetailing of inner and outer.

The EMT is a view about the location of thephysical mechanisms of mind and cognition that

envisions the emergence of augmented cognitivesystems through the coupled combination of

externally located resources, bodily manipulations,and in-the-head processing.

I claim that the use of these embeddedinteractive features profoundly changes

the functional properties of the sensorycortex. Incorporation is therefore a

consequence of Cognitive Dovetailing.

My Hypothesis

I therefore put forward the thesis that the use of thesedevices not only replaces but, in fact, also intimately

augments our perceptual abilities in novel directions, in a wathat would be impossible without them. These SSDs, as

Clark pointed out, are “mind enhancing tools ”.

“Such devices should not be understood as merely external 

stand- ins for already existing purely internal processes” 

(Auvray & Myin, op.Cit., 2009). They transform perception

in a qualitative way.

Thus, In agreement with Myin &Auvray, I propose to explain this

“acquired perception” as a cross-modal perception, a multimodalunion of senses, whose vehicles

encompass bodily, environmentaland neural components.

Cross-Modal Union of Senses (It’s notjust hearing, nor merely seeing...)

In SSD perception we are not merely replacing a sense that perceiver has for a sense they lack. Through the coupling

of the perceiver and the SSD we generate a novel,augmented, and multimodal form of perception.

rko Farina1, Prof. Andy Clark1, Dr. Julian Kiverstein1,Dr. Till Vierkant1, Prof. John Sutton2, Prof. Erik My1School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh 

2 Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University Sydney, 3 University of Antwerp 

Crucially, this cross-modal perception differs from any

kind we normally enjoy when we are not using an SSD.SSDs count as a case for augmentation inasmuch as they

are making a constitutive contribution towards theemergence of a cognitive process. A contribution which

radically differs from that brought forth by the organism.

eural Plasticity

Cortical plasticity is a hallmark of the nervous system

and a fundamental property of the synapses. It refers tothe continuous alteration of the functional properties of a

group of neural elements throughout an individual‟slifetime.

I argue that it is cortical plasticity that enables this kindof deep and enriched integration. In other words,

plasticity is a precondition for Extended Cognition.

Extended Cognition emerges within one of these threeareas (or a combination of two of them): natural realms,

technological domains and social spheres.I taketechnological extension, namely Sensory Substitution

Devices (SSDs henceforth), as my case study.

SSDs provide a nice example of how

cognition can be augmented by tool use ina way that directly exploits the opportunism

afforded by neural plasticity.

Neural Plasticity is the capacity of the brain tochange its structure and modify its functions

according to environmental stimulation.

Cognitive Dovetailing is the idea that

inner and outer processes naturallygo together like hand and glove, so

as to achieve a deeper kind ofcognitive integration. Cognitive

Dovetailing therefore takes place

when “neural resources become 

structured so as to factor reliable external resources and operations 

into the very heart of their problem- 

solving routines”. (Clark, 2001).

It is a new form of perception because it is cross-modaland consistently enhanced in a way that no non-

augmented perception is. It is augmented because it isbased on Incorporation and Cognitive Dovetailing.

Reports say

“...There came a point when the sensation the device gave me in the form of unfamiliar sounds turned into a perception 

of shapes and colours. In a way you could think of it as, whelearning a new word in a foreign language, there comes a 

point when you cease to translate the word in your head every time you hear it, and instead automatically understand

its meaning ”. (to Z.Capalbo, a Kromophone user).

Thus, in contrast to the case of a cane for

blind persons,SSDs entail a profound

alteration of the individual‟s body schema,which in turn causes a cross –modal unionof senses. Such a multimodal integration

ultimately augments the organism‟s

capabilities.

In SSD perception, vision, touch and audition are mergedtogether to form a robust and coherent percept.

Users also claim to be able to „see sounds‟ when not using

the vOICe. Their brains have internalized the vOICe„s rulesfor mapping between hearing and vision, and the rules are

applied both when the device is worn and when it is not.