Information-Processing and Embodied, Embedded, Enactive Cognition Part 2: Morphological Computing and Cognitive Agency

Dear Colleagues,

In a preceding Special Issue dedicated to “Information-Processing and Embodied, Embedded, Enactive Cognition” (Part 1), we presented the current state-of-the-art of the modeling of cognition and the role of computational, embodied, embedded and enactive approaches. We investigated possibilities for reconciliation of controversies regarding the nature of cognition and the question of its adequate modeling.

This sequel Special Issue is based on the results of two related events, namely: “Foundations Of Cyber-Physical Computation: Morphological And Embodied Computing Symposium On Theory And Applications”, held 7–8 May 2018 in Gothenburg, Sweden, https://sites.google.com/view/morphologicalcomputing; and the symposium “Morphological Computing and Cognitive Agency”, http://is4si-2017.org/morphological-computing-cognitive-agency , held as part of the IS4SI Summit in Gothenburg, held 12–16 June 2017.

In this Special Issue, we focus on the fundamental morphological computational processes of the interaction of a cognitive agent with the world. Computation in general is considered to be information processing, and it takes place on a variety of levels of organization in a cognitive architecture. Studying computation, including morphological computing, entails studying information dynamics [1,2].

Morphological computing, at its core, entails that the morphology (shape and material properties) of an agent (a living organism or a machine) both enables and constrains its possible interactions with the environment, as well as its development, including its growth and reconfiguration. Such physical computation within cognitive systems includes the off-loading of the control onto the body and its interaction within the environment, thus enabling flexible and adaptive behavior [3–7]. Within the morphological computing perspective, a process of information self-structuring, according to interactive constraints, is considered critical to the emergence of process and function in cognitive systems across evolutionary and developmental timescales [1,2,6–8].

The nature of morphological computing has been investigated within a number of different frameworks, such as info-computationalism (where the world for an agent is an informational structure with dynamics that can be described as natural computation). This approach is also called natural computationalism when the focus is on the type of computations, and all of nature forms a network of computational processes [2]. Specific areas related to the morphological computation have also been investigated within neuro-morphological computing, embodiment and development, and social and affective interaction. [11].

So-called embodied cognition holds that cognition is grounded in environmental interactions in the world and is invisible in a classical symbolic representation accounts of cognitive function, which is modeled on human ‘thinking’ or ‘mentality’. However, modern computational perspectives on cognition, such as natural computation (including info-computation), account for embodiment, whereby cognitive processes are considered to emerge from interactions in the world.

 Cyber–physical systems integrate computation, networking, and physical processes, and in cases of computation understood as natural computation in cognizing agents and networking interactions between agents, cognitive agents can be understood as cyber–physical systems. Such systems are already being developed as a combination of the existing technologies, often as a continuation of embedded systems approaches. However, the concept offers much more possibilities that can be developed by transcending the limitations and drawbacks of the present-day computer technologies, such as energy and material consumption issues, lack of resilience, speed, and smooth adaptation to a variety of new fields like life sciences and medicine, nano-technology and bioinformatics, and new production and transportation technologies. New computational approaches can also make technological systems less rigid and more human-friendly, such as in the field of soft-robotics and cognitive computing. In order to address these new challenges, there is a need for new unconventional approaches to computing, such as physical computing, natural computing, embodied cognitive computing, and morphological computing (where a morphology of a physical systems computes or processes information or, in the case of robotics morphology, is used for learning and bodily control).

The Special Issue brings together researchers from both theory-driven and application-driven emerging approaches to computation and embodiment, who address theoretical positions concerning morphological and embodied computation, as well as practical applications and foundations for new technologies.

Submissions

We invite contributions addressing morphological computing and cognitive agency. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Modeling cognitive architectures and processes
• Morphological computing: advancing theories and frameworks
• Neuromorphological computing
• Evolutionary robotics and evolutionary computation and embodied systems
• Developmental systems, computational processes and embodiment
• Morphological aspects of affective, cognitive, and social interaction
• Embodied vs. disembodied cognition
• Cognition through computation
• Morphology of information

Prof. Dr. Gordana Dodig Crnkovic
Dr. Robert Lowe
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Entropy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com, by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted up until the deadline. All of the papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles, and short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except for conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for the submission of manuscripts is available on the instructions for authors page. Entropy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the instructions for authors page before submitting a manuscript. The article processing charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions. 

References

1. Dodig-Crnkovic, G. (2012) “The Info-computational Nature of Morphological Computing”, in Müller V. C. (ed.), Theory and Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence (SAPERE; Berlin: Springer), (Selected contributions from PT-AI conference @ACT) pp. 59-68. http://sssa.bioroboticsinstitute.it/subarea/Neuromorphological
2. Dodig-Crnkovic, G. (2016) “Information, Computation, Cognition. Agency-Based Hierarchies of Levels”. In: FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, Müller V. C. (ed.), Synthese Library 377, pp 139-159. Springer International Publishing Switzerland, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-26485-1_10
3. Hauser, H.; Füchslin, R.M.; Nakajima, K. (2014) “Morphological Computation – The Physical Body as Computational Resource” in e-book on “Opinions and Outlooks on Morphological Computation”, Chapter 20,
ISBN 978-3-033-04515-6, http://tinyurl.com/pjvey43
4. Pfeifer, R.; Bongard, J. (2006) “How the body shapes the way we think: a new view of intelligence” Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT press.
5. Nakajima, K.; Hauser, H.; Li, T.; Pfeifer, R. (2015) “Information processing via physical soft body” Scientific Reports 5 doi:10.1038/srep10487 http://www.nature.com/srep/2015/150527/srep10487/full/srep10487.html
6. Hauser, H.; Ijspeert, A.; Füchslin, R.; Pfeifer, R.; Maass, W. (2011) “Towards a theoretical foundation for morphological computation with compliant bodies” Biological Cybernetics, Springer Berlin / Heidelberg, 105, 355-370 http://www.springerlink.com/content/j236312507300638/
7. McEvoy, M.A.; Correll, N. (2015) “Materials that couple sensing, actuation, computation, and communication.” Science 347(6228):1261689
8. Jablonka, E.; Lamb, M. (2005) “Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life”. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
9. Ginsburg, S.; Jablonka, E. (2009) “Epigenetic learning in non-neural organisms”. Journal of Biosciences, 34(4), 633–646.
10. Jablonka, E.; Lamb, M.J. (1995) “Epigenetic Inheritance and Evolution”, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
11. http://sssa.bioroboticsinstitute.it/subarea/Neuromorphological

• Morphological computing
• Cognitive architectures and processes
• Neuromorphological computing
• Evolutionary robotics
• Evolutionary info-computation
• Developmental systems
• Computational processes and embodiment

• Information-Processing and Embodied, Embedded, Enactive Cognition. Morphological Computing and Evolution of Cognition. Part 3 in Entropy (5 articles)
• Information-Processing and Embodied, Embedded, Enactive Cognition Part 1 in Entropy (5 articles)