
How the Brain Links Gestures, Perception and Meaning - pseudolus
https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-the-brain-links-gestures-perception-and-meaning-20190325/
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mindgam3
I’ve always thought that proponents of “embodied cognition” are onto
something. Like the whole field of so-called machine learning is missing
something fundamental about how humans learn. This article provides a cogent
explanation for what could be missing.

“When children are learning their first language, Macedonia argues, they
absorb information with their entire bodies. A word like “onion,” for example,
is tightly linked to all five senses: Onions have a bulbous shape, papery skin
that rustles, a bitter tang and a tear-inducing odor when sliced. Even
abstract concepts like “delight” have multisensory components, such as smiles,
laughter and jumping for joy. To some extent, cognition is “embodied” — the
brain’s activity can be modified by the body’s actions and experiences, and
vice versa. It’s no wonder, then, that foreign words don’t stick if students
are only listening, writing, practicing and repeating, because those verbal
experiences are stripped of their sensory associations.“

Frankly I find this explanation very convincing. I have absolutely no idea how
one would go about trying to design intelligent machines using embodied
cognition. Feels like we are light years away from anything close to this,
which is why no mainstream AI researchers are working on it or even discussing
it as far as I know. Would love to see some counter examples if anyone is more
knowledgeable about the space.

~~~
gumby
You might be interested in the work of Jean Piaget, a constructivist child
psychologist. One of his PhD students was a South African scientist you may
have heard of: Seymour Papert, longtime collaborator with Marvin Minsky.

There are a couple of companies working on embedded cognition but they are in
stealth. Academic work in this area has pretty much faded since the late
1980s.

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YeGoblynQueenne
>> (...) in Greece or Turkey forming a ring with your index finger and thumb
to indicate everything is A-OK could get you in trouble.

I'm Greek. I'm not sure what that refers to. I think they mean that we use the
gesture to indicate the number 0, or, more rudely, the anal orifice (often
accompanied by inserting the index finger of the other hand into it to
illustrate penetration).

This gesture can indeed be interpreted like that. I think those are rather
obsolete meanings though. Mostly I've used the gesture myself to say
"everything OK". I suppose this is the equivalent of loan words, in this case,
from the more common usage of the gesture in Western Europe.

Edit: Oh. Now that I think of it, there is also a further interpretation of
that gesture to indicate a tiny size. Meaning, of the human penis. It's true
that its original meanings were always quite rude.

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mythrwy
"No other species points, Novack explained, not even chimpanzees or apes"

Except there are many breeds of dogs that point. True it may be partially
training, but every dog I've had recognizes the significance of human pointing
and there appears to be some kind of innate pointing instinct.

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kickinthedoor
You seemed to have left off the second part of the sentence, which you appear
to agree with

"No other species points, Novack explained, not even chimpanzees or apes,
according to most reports, unless they are raised by people"

edit: I suppose the clause "unless they are raised by people" could be
interpreted as pertaining to either "not even chimpanzees or apes", or "No
other species", but I don't think it matters.

~~~
taneq
Do humans point if they're not raised by people? The few cases of such that
I've heard about seem to be incapable of most "uniquely human" behaviours.

~~~
sp332
Possibly not, since we're pretty good at following another person's gaze
instead. And different cultures point differently. I knew a guy who lived in
Papua New Guinea for a while and he had to untrain himself to point with his
finger. People there would just look at his finger. They only pointed with
their chins.

