Cariani P. (2016) Time is of the essence. In: Penny S. & Donahy K. (eds.) A body of knowledge: Embodied cognition and the arts. University of California at Irvine: 1–18.
Cariani P.
(
2016)
Time is of the essence.
In: Penny S. & Donahy K. (eds.) A body of knowledge: Embodied cognition and the arts. University of California at Irvine: 1–18.
This paper outlines two ideas. The first proposes a basic high-level neuropsychological and neurophenomenological cybernetic framework for discussing the structure of mind and experience. The second is that much, perhaps even most, informational processes in the brain are inherently temporal in nature, i.e. that they are subserved by temporal neural codes. To paraphrase Mari Reiss Jones, in the study of mind and brain, “time is our lost dimension” (Jones 1976). In this view, there is pervasive, common temporal structure in the internal neural representations that subserve both perception and action. This common temporal structure permits perception to facilitate, inform, and even bootstrap action, and vice versa. Time structure in perception, action (movement, behavior), cognition, affect, motivation (drives, goals), and memory may allow these different mental faculties to mutually influence one another.
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