Could you make a computer program that could have enough information in it that it could simulate a body? Right. It's theoretically probably possible, but it seems a little bit far-fetched. So what would it be? I mean, the brain in the VAD experiment, right? Couldn't we somehow very cleverly mimic the signals it's getting from a body? You know, this is completely... Oh yeah, I know. You're a serious scientist that I'm playing fun films offical games. No, I don't think so. The way that we inherently think and the way we process information has to do with interaction with a body and theBrain wouldn't be able to
Brains are important things; they're where thinking happens. Or are they? The theory of "embodied cognition" posits that it's better to think of thinking as something that takes place in the body as a whole, not just in the cells of the brain. In some sense this is trivially true; our brains interact with the rest of our bodies, taking in signals and giving back instructions. But it seems bold to situate important elements of cognition itself in the actual non-brain parts of the body. Lisa Aziz-Zadeh is a psychologist and neuroscientist who uses imaging technologies to study how different parts of the brain and body are involved in different cognitive tasks. We talk a lot about mirror neurons, those brain cells that light up both when we perform an action ourselves and when we see someone else performing the action. Understanding how these cells work could be key to a better view of empathy and interpersonal interactions. Lisa Aziz-Zadeh is an Associate Professor in the Brain and Creativity Institute and the Department of Occupational Science at the University of Southern California. She received her Ph.D. in psychology from UCLA, and has also done research at the University of Parma and the University of California, Berkeley. Home page USC profile Lab home page Google Scholar Talk on Brain and Body
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