ICSC welcome presentation by Marta Olivetti Belardinelli

1. ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied
Cognition”
Space and Embodied Cognition
WELCOME
to the fifth edition of the
International Conference of Space Cognition
By Marta Olivetti Belardinelli
Space and Embodied
Cognition

2. ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied
Cognition”
ICSC 2000: Spatial cognition: Scientific
2000
Research and Application
• 3 Keynotes:
Michel Denis (Paris)
Hanspeter A. Mallot (Tuebingen)
Jonathan R. Wolpaw (Albany)
• 5 Symposia
• 6 Oral sessions
• 1 Poster session
• 1 Demo session
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3. ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied
Cognition”
ICSC 2003: European year of People with disability
Space and Disability
• 4 Keynotes:
Jerome E. Bickenbach (New Kork)
Luigi Pizzamiglio (Rome)
Alan Roulstone (Sunderland)
Marcia J. Scherer (Rochester)
• 7 Oral sessions
• 1 Poster session
• 1 Demo session
3

4. ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied
Cognition”
ICSC 2006: Dynamics in
Spatial Interactions
• 4 Keynotes:
Paolo Calabresi (Perugia)
Albert Postma (Utrecht)
Charles Spence (Oxford)
Cees van Leeuwen
• 6 Symposia
• 14 Oral sessions
• 3 Poster sessions
4

5. ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied
Cognition”
ICSC 2009: Spatial Cognition and Action
• 4 Keynotes:
Christian Freksa (Bremen)
Juan Lupianez (Granada)
Thomas C. Ormerod (Lancaster)
Barbara Tversky (Stanford)
• 12 Symposia
• 14 Oral sessions
• 2 Poster sessions
• 8 Tutorials
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6. ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied
Cognition”
ICSC 2012: Space and Embodied Cognition
• 5 Keynotes:
Alain Berthoz (Paris)
Marc Ernst (Bielefeld)
Luciano Fadiga (Ferrara)
Karl Friston (London)
Michael Spivey (Merced)
• 18 Symposia
• 12 Oral sessions
• 8 Poster sessions
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7. ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied
Cognition”
Participants to ICSC 2012
• First of all I want to thank all the participants
to this Conference:
• Among 252 participants:
• 194 are from Europe
• 9 from Asia
• 42 from North America
• 3 from South America
• 3 from Oceania

8. ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied
Cognition”
Thanks to:
.................our Keynotes
Alain Berthoz “Neural basis of Marc Ernst “Human Luciano Fadiga “The
changing perspective in spatial multisensory perception and action motor framework of peripersonal
orientation and navigation. Implication - Putting the puzzle together” space”
for empathy”
Karl Friston “Active Michael Spivey “The
inference and spatial cognition” spatial intersection of minds”

9. ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied
Thanks to: Cognition”
...........our Scientific Committee
• Thomas Hünefeldt – (Rome) • Daniele Nardi (Rome)
• Antonio Jesus Bandera Rubio (Malaga) • Davide Nardo (Rome)
• Anna M. Borghi (Bologne) • Nora Newcombe (Philadelphia)
• Alessandro D’Ausilio (Genova) • Massimiliano Palmiero (L’Aquila)
• Franco Delogu (Detroit) • Francesca Pazzaglia (Padua)
• Michel Denis (Paris) • Albert Postma (Utrecht)
• Dina Di Giacomo (L’Aquila) • Alberto Priori (Milan)
• Stefano Federici (Perugia) • Valerio Santangelo (Perugia)
• Ken Forbus (Evanston), • Marcia Scherer (Rochester)
• Dedre Gentner (Evanston) • Kerstin Schill (Bremen)
• Cecilia Guariglia (Rome) • Werner Schneider (Bielefeld)
• Stephen Hirtle (Pittsburgh) • Thomas Shipley (Philadelphia),
• Christoph Hoelscher (Freiburg) • Boris Suchan (Bochum)
• Tina Iachini (Naples) • Narayanan Srinivasan (Allahabad)
• Elisabetta Ladavas (Bologne) • Barbara Tversky (Stanford)
• Emiliano Macaluso (Rome) • Cees van Leeuwen (Leuwen)
• Hanspeter Mallot (Tübingen)
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10. ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied
Cognition”
...the President of the Organizing
Committee
Dr. Thomas Hünefeldt

11. ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied
Cognition”
…and his Lieutenants
Daniele Nardi
Luca Simione

12. ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied
My thanks to the Organizing
Cognition”
Committee: the Ladies…
MARIA LAURA MELE
FEDERICA MAURO OLA HUSSEIN
GISELLA MICCIANTUONO
SIMONA ARIANNA
DI FRANCESCO
ROSANNA VIGNOLA
LINDA PECORIELLO

13. ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied
Cognition”
My thanks to the Organizing
Committee: …and the Gentlemen
ALESSANDRO GIANNANDREA
MAURIZIO GIORGIO
GIULIO TIRINELLI

14. ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied
Cognition”
Looking for an exhaustive definition
Embodied Cognition:
• the brain circuits responsible for abstract
thinking are closely tied to those circuits that
analyse and process sensory experiences (Isanski
& West,2010)
• “Not only … our concrete experience of the
physical world(…) can impact our conception
of higher order,…. But also these abstract
constructs can alter the way we experience
the concrete and physical” (Zhong, 2008)
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15. ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied
Cognition”
A broader definition including Agency
“Cognition is embodied when it is deeply
dependent upon features of the physical
body of an agent, that is, when aspects of the
agent’s body beyond the brain play a
significant causal or physically constitutive
role in cognitive processing”
(Wilson & Foglia, 2011)

16. ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied
Cognition”
Mind and Body
the agent’s Body as:
• Constraint: it constrains the nature and
content of the cognitive representations
• Distributor: it distributes computational and
Distributor
representational load betweeen neural and
non-neural structures
• Regulator: it regulates cognitive activity over
Regulator
space and time in motor action

17. ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied
Cognition”
Mind, Body and What else?
We should confront ourselves with:
• Situated Cognition
• Grounded Cognition
• Socially Distributed Cognition
• Extended Mind
• Consciousness
• Agency
….in Space and time
BUT……….

18. ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied
Cognition”
Combining robots with babies
• Embodied cognition reflects the idea that the motor system
influences bodily actions
• Researchers from Ithaca College in New York are working on a
way to fuse babies with robots to give mobility to all babies,
babies
even those with conditions that may delay independent
mobility, like Down syndrome, spina bifida, or cerebral palsy
(WeeBot: a Novel Method for Infant Control of a Robotic Mobility Device, presented last May at ICRA
2012 by S. Stansfield, C. Dennis, & H. Larin)
• With these devices babies can be turned in robot driver: they
became able to control the WeeBot in goal-directed
movement during periods of free play
• Which is the mind and which the body?

19. ICSC 2012 – “Space and Embodied
Cognition”
All the topics (problems) to you
• I am sure you will work hard and from my
embodied heart I wish you to
Enjoy the conference
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