Embodying cognitive ethology.
Theory & psychology February 1, 2023 Helen L Ma, Michael R W Dawson, Ruby S Prinsen et al. 4 citations
Traditional cognitive psychology treats the environment as a source of information that does not alter basic cognitive processes, relying on controlled lab experiments with precisely timed stimuli. New research shows the environment does influence cognition, prompting proposals like cognitive ethology, which draws inspiration from real-world phenomena before testing them in the lab. Cognitive ethology appeals to embodied cognition for its focus on agent-environment relationships but retains traditional assumptions about cognitive processes. The authors argue cognitive ethology should adopt the ontology of less radical embodied cognition, leading to new methodologies such as comparing real-world and lab studies to understand how cognition depends on environments.