Walter J. Freeman (1998) The Necessity for Partitioning Organism From Environment . Psycoloquy: 9(81) Efference Knowledge (7)
Versions: ASCII formatted
Psycoloquy 9(81): The Necessity for Partitioning Organism From Environment

THE NECESSITY FOR PARTITIONING ORGANISM FROM ENVIRONMENT
Commentary on Jarvilehto on Efference-Knowledge

Walter J. Freeman
Division of Neurobiology
Dept of Molecular & Cell Biology,
University of California
Berkeley CA 94720 USA
http://sulcus.berkeley.edu

wfreeman@socrates.berkeley.edu

Abstract

Modeling perception and behavior as an organism-environment system is a powerful step toward replicating intelligent behavior with machines. An equally important step is to explain the genesis of intention through nonlinear brain dynamics as necessary before the organism engages the environment. This implies the existence of a perceptual barrier between brains. Its nature was first described by Thomas Aquinas, then by David Hume, and its existence has now been shown by electrophysiological imaging. The nature of its operation has been revealed by dynamical analysis of the sensory cortices of animals trained to discriminate between reinforced and unreinforced conditioned stimuli.

Keywords

afference, artificial life, efference, epistemology, evolution, Gibson, knowledge, motor theory, movement, perception, receptors, robotics, sensation, sensorimotor systems, situatedness

References