In this paper we secure the explanatory value of affordances by treating them as relational properties and as inherently linked to unintentional movements and possible intentional actions. We distinguish between Basic affordances, which are related to unintentional movements, and Complex affordances, which are subjective and executively controlled by individuals. The linkage between affordances and motor intentions allows for accounting for the infinite number of affordances that any given object potentially has. Appealing to objective systematic contingencies that provide the actor with (...) information about the effects of her actions, allows for accounting for perception of affordances and for securing their explanatory value. (shrink)

A central problem of theories of grounded cognition concerns the grounding of abstract concepts in sensorimotor representations. The paper aims at providing a new basis for a theory of cogni-tive abstraction mechanisms. The focus will be on the notions of causal indexicals and affordances, understood as action related concepts that show different degrees of abstraction. Abstraction mechanisms will be characterized that allow the transformation of such obviously "grounded" concepts into more abstract ones. In this way, the relation between sensorimotor processes (...) and abstract concepts will be described in detail, and general principles of abstraction will be determined. (shrink)

A central problem of theories of grounded cognition concerns the grounding of abstract concepts in sensorimotor representations. The paper aims at providing a new basis for a theory of cogni-tive abstraction mechanisms. The focus will be on the notions of causal indexicals and affordances, understood as action related concepts that show different degrees of abstraction. Abstraction mechanisms will be characterized that allow the transformation of such obviously "grounded" concepts into more abstract ones. In this way, the relation between sensorimotor processes (...) and abstract concepts will be described in detail, and general principles of abstraction will be determined. (shrink)