Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 6, 2026

Observing the Transformation of Bodily Self-consciousness in the Squeeze-machine Experiment
Published on: March 8, 2019
Immersion as an embodied cognition shift: aesthetic experience and spatial situated cognition
1Paris I/CNRS, UMR 8218, ACTE, Paris, France, b.trentini@laposte.net.
Background:
The main hypothesis of situated cognition is related to the origin of mental processes: the environment is thought to be the source of all cognitive processes. However, immersion enables a dual perception of space by enabling to perceive both the routine environment and a new way to see the world.
Aims:
We want to provide a further insight into the transition from on-line cognition to off-line cognition: we want to show that aesthetic experience towards immersive art comes from the awareness that one's cognition depends on the environment. Although this specific cognition is not independent from the general environment, it abstracts the individuals from their idiosyncratic environment. Therefore, immersive art may induce cognitive processes that are borderline cases of situated cognition.
Method:
Aesthetic experience regarding spatial cognition will be described using an approach of embodied aesthetics, that is to say an approach which connects phenomenology of perception and cognitive sciences.
Results:
No experiments are contemplated as of now.
Conclusions:
The experience of immersive art makes individuals become aware that their perceptual processes can adapt to the environment. Thus, the self-experience, which is typical of aesthetic experience, may be the cornerstone of off-line cognition.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Gestalt Principles of Perception
Depth Perception and Spatial Vision
Cognitive Learning
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...
Cognitivism
Previously dominated by behaviorism, which prioritized observable behaviors and largely ignored mental processes, psychology transformed in the 1950s. Cognitive psychologists argue that understanding how we think and process...
Structuralism
Titchener's approach to structuralism was unique. He...
Gestalt Psychology

