The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

The current status of the simulation theory of cognition

På svenska

Author

Summary, in English

It is proposed that thinking is simulated interaction with the environment. Three assumptions underlie this ‘simulation’ theory of cognitive function. Firstly, behaviour can be simulated in the sense that we can activate motor structures, as during a normal overt action, but suppress its execution. Secondly, perception can be simulated by internal activation of sensory cortex in a way that resembles its normal activation during perception of external stimuli. The third assumption (‘anticipation’) is that both overt and simulated actions can elicit perceptual simulation of their most probable consequences. A large body of evidence, mainly from neuroimaging studies, that supports these assumptions, is reviewed briefly. The theory is ontologically parsimonious and does not rely on standard cognitivist constructs such as internal models or representations. It is argued that the simulation approach can explain the relations between motor, sensory and cognitive functions and the appearance of an inner world. It also unifies and explains important features of a wide variety of cognitive phenomena such as memory and cognitive maps. Novel findings from recent developments in memory research on the similarity of imaging and memory and on the role of both prefrontal cortex and sensory cortex in declarative memory and working memory are predicted by the theory and provide striking support for it.

Publishing year

2012

Language

English

Pages

71-79

Publication/Series

Brain Research

Volume

1428

Issue

Online 27 June 2011

Document type

Journal article review

Publisher

Elsevier

Topic

  • Neurosciences

Keywords

  • Simulation
  • Anticipation
  • Thought
  • Consciousness
  • Cognition
  • Memory

Status

Published

Project

  • Thinking in Time: Cognition, Communication and Learning

Research group

  • Associative Learning

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1872-6240