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Cognition as Morphological/Morphogenetic Embodied Computation In Vivo.

Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic^1,2

¹Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden.

Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)

|November 11, 2022

Summary

Cognition extends beyond humans, encompassing all life through information processing. This study reframes cognition as embodied, info-computational processes, challenging traditional models for broader applications.

Keywords:

agency autonomy computation embodied cognition evolution information intelligence morphogenesis morphological computing natural computing

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Science
Biophysics
Theoretical Biology

Background:

Cognition is increasingly recognized across all living organisms, not just humans.
Traditional cognitive models often overlook physical embodiment and constraints.
A new framework is needed to understand cognition from a unified, info-computational perspective.

Purpose of the Study:

To propose an info-computational framework for understanding cognition in all living systems.
To challenge anthropocentric views of cognition and outdated computationalist models.
To integrate recent advances in fields like morphogenesis and active inference into cognitive theory.

Main Methods:

Adopting an info-computational stance, viewing natural structures as information and processes as computation.
Analyzing cognition as emergent from self-organizing, self-assembling systems (morphological computation).
Synthesizing concepts from agency, basal cognition, extended evolutionary synthesis, and the free energy principle.

Main Results:

Cognition is understood as a network of concurrent morphological/morphogenetic computations.
This approach offers a more biologically plausible and physically grounded model of cognition.
It addresses limitations of abstract symbol-processing models by incorporating embodiment.

Conclusions:

A unified, info-computational view of cognition is essential for advancing artificial intelligence, robotics, and medicine.
Embodied, agent-centric perspectives offer superior theoretical and practical insights.
Future research should focus on the physical and computational underpinnings of cognition across life.