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Grounded in the World: Developmental Origins of the Embodied Mind
Author(s) -
Thelen Esther
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
infancy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.361
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1532-7078
pISSN - 1525-0008
DOI - 10.1207/s15327078in0101_02
Subject(s) - embodied cognition , psychology , cognitive science , perception , cognition , cognitive psychology , framing (construction) , action (physics) , cognitive development , epistemology , neuroscience , philosophy , physics , structural engineering , quantum mechanics , engineering
Piaget's (1952) question of how the adult mind emerges from the sensorimotor infant is still the framing issue for developmental psychology. Here I suggest that real‐life skill is better understood if the sensorimotor origins of cognition are not abandoned. Skilled people are not only better at both abstract and logical thinking but also at processing the world “online” and, most important, seamlessly and rapidly shifting between the two modes. I illustrate the tight coupling between action, perception, and cognition in early life and propose that this coupling remains but becomes more flexibly adaptive. Further, I show that the language of dynamics is appropriate to capture these mind‐body‐world interconnections.