Raw Cognition Rhythms as Dynamic Constraints

Rhythmic interactions between oscillators in the body, brain, and environment are increasingly recognized as fundamental to cognition, though their mechanisms remain unclear. This article argues that an enactive notion of rhythm as open entrainment can help explain how these oscillators function as nested dynamic constraints. Through neuronal and non-neuronal interactions, they tie together different domains—body, brain, and environment—while preserving each domain's specific functions. This framework offers a way to think about the constitutive role of rhythmic processes in cognition without reducing one domain to another.

Study at a glance

Abstract

There is increasing evidence that the rhythmic interactions between intrinsic oscillators both in the body and in the brain play a constitutive role in cognition. However, the mechanisms and extent of these interactions are yet to be fully understood. In this article, I will contend that a notion of rhythm as an open entrainment can be useful for enactive approaches to different aspects of cognition. It allows us to think of the different oscillators that we find in the body, the brain, and the environment as nested dynamic constraints that through neuronal and non-neuronal interactions tie together the different domains while retaining their specific functions.