The ERC Advanced Project of J. Kevin O’Regan is pleased to announce:

‘The Sensorimotor Theory of Perception and Consciousness: Developments and Open Questions’

ASSC Satellite Workshop

Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th July 2015 – Paris, France

Speakers including: Anthony Chemero, Alva Noë, Malika Auvray, Xabier Barandiaran, Erik Myin, Kevin O’Regan

Click here to see the provisional workshop schedule and here to see a complete list of talks and posters.

The sensorimotor theory claims that we can make strides toward dissolving the mysteries of consciousness if we think of experience as a kind of bodily engagement with the environment rather than something that happens only in the brain. Specifically, it claims that perceptual consciousness depends on implicit mastery of sensorimotor contingencies, the pattern-like ways that sense inputs change in line with movement by the agent or object perceived.

Since its first official statement in a seminal paper by O’Regan and Noë (2001), the theory has been extended and developed in various ways, resulting in a rich set of empirical and philosophical ideas about conscious experience. This workshop will give an overview of the state of the art and discuss key issues that a future sensorimotor theory should tackle.

Registration

Everybody is welcome. Participation is free but places are strictly limited. To register, please email Niclette Bukasa Kampata on lpp.erc.vision@gmail.com with your name and any affiliation.

Workshop programme

The two-day workshop will feature a combination of philosophers and scientists working on the sensorimotor theory and closely related topics.

Keynote speakers:

• Alva Noë (Berkeley) -‘Sensorimotor Understanding and the Limits of Agency’
• Anthony Chemero (Cincinnati) – ‘Sensorimotor Empathy’

Invited speakers:

• Malika Auvray (Institute of Intelligent Systems and Robotics) – ‘Questioning the Use of Sensory Substitution Devices at the Behavioral, Phenomenal and Neurophysiological Levels’
• Xabier Barandiaran (Basque Country) – ‘Strong and Weak Sensorimotor Constitution of Experience’
• Erik Myin (Antwerp) – ‘Reasons for Radicalism’

And a closing talk by:

• Kevin O’Regan – ‘New Scientific Directions for the Sensorimotor Theory of Consciousness’

These will be accompanied by a number of contributed talks and posters. Click here for details.

Venue

Centre Universitaire des Saints Pères,
45 Rue des Saints Pères,
75006 Paris,
France
(View on map)

The workshop will take place in Amphithéâtre Lavoisier on the 3rd floor. Signs will be placed to direct you.

For questions, please contact our ERC Lab Manager,
Niclette Bukasa Kampata at lpp.erc.vision@gmail.com

The workshop is being organised by Kevin O’Regan, Lucia Foglia, David Silverman and Jan Degenaar as part of Kevin O’Regan’s ERC Advanced Project FEEL, based at the Psychology of Perception Laboratory, Paris Descartes University.