Emergence Of Self And Other In Perception And Action: An Event-control Approach.

Jordan JS. Conscious Cogn. 2003 Dec;12(4):633-46.


The present paper analyzes the regularities referred to via the concept 'self.' This is important, for cognitive science traditionally models the self as a cognitive mediator between perceptual inputs and behavioral outputs. This leads to the assertion that the self causes action. Recent findings in social psychology indicate this is not the case and, as a consequence, certain cognitive scientists model the self as being epiphenomenal. In contrast, the present paper proposes an alternative approach (i.e., the event-control approach) that is based on recently discovered regularities between perception and action. Specifically, these regularities indicate that perception and action planning utilize common neural resources. This leads to a coupling of perception, planning, and action in which the first two constitute aspects of a single system (i.e., the distal-event system) that is able to pre-specify and detect distal events. This distal-event system is then coupled with action (i.e., effector-control systems) in a constraining, as opposed to 'causal' manner. This model has implications for how we conceptualize the manner in which one infers the intentions of another, anticipates the intentions of another, and possibly even experiences another. In conclusion, it is argued that it may be possible to map the concept 'self' onto the regularities referred to in the event-control model, not in order to reify 'the self' as a causal mechanism, but to demonstrate its status as a useful concept that refers to regularities that are part of the natural order.


Pubmed abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.f...t_uids=14656506

Note: I'll post my thoughts on this paper after I've read it. I just thought the title and abstract sounded rather intriguing.

shawn:

can you e-mail this to my mednet.ucla.edu account? I am writing a grant from home right now and don't have access to PubMed. I could really use a good reason to procrastinate right now :0)

Jen

yes, it's been sent. Please let me know whether you received it.

This is the self model, the internal model involved with consciousness, not the self refered to when we speak of self-awareness. Isn't there any common sense of the terminology out there yet?

I wasn't away long enough...

welcome Stabile. Definitions are in over-supply. There is little consensus as I understand things. The self in self-awareness, what are your thoughts on that?