2014/01/14 by Tom Froese, Hiroyuki Iizuka, Takashi Ikegami · 1 voice
Computer Science · Neuroscience · Physics and Astronomy · Psychology · #Action Observation and Synchronization #Embodied and Extended Cognition #Neural dynamics and brain function #acm:91B99 #cs.HC #cs.MA #msc:91B99 #nlin.AO
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/srep03672
published as Froese, T., Iizuka, H. & Ikegami, T. Embodied social interaction constitutes social cognition in pairs of humans: A minimalist virtual reality experiment. Sci. Rep. 4, 3672; DOI:10.1038/srep03672 (2014) · 10 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables
openalex publication_date 2014/01/14 · arxiv created 2014/01/16 · arxiv updated 2014/01/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Scientists have traditionally limited the mechanisms of social cognition to one brain, but recent approaches claim that interaction also realizes cognitive work. Experiments under constrained virtual settings revealed that interaction dynamics implicitly guide social cognition. Here we show that embodied social interaction can be constitutive of agency detection and of experiencing another`s presence. Pairs of participants moved their "avatars" along an invisible virtual line and could make haptic contact with three identical objects, two of which embodied the other`s motions, but only one, the other`s avatar, also embodied the other`s contact sensor and thereby enabled responsive interaction. Co-regulated interactions were significantly correlated with identifications of the other`s avatar and reports of the clearest awareness of the other`s presence. These results challenge folk psychological notions about the boundaries of mind, but make sense from evolutionary and developmental perspectives: an extendible mind can offload cognitive work into its environment.