Provided by Cognitive Sciences ePrint Archive
47
G. Riva, M.T. Anguera, B.K. Wiederhold and F. Mantovani (Eds.)
From Communication to Presence: Cognition, Emotions and Culture towards the
Ultimate Communicative Experience. Festschrift in honor of Luigi Anolli
IOS Press, Amsterdam, 2006, (c) All rights reserved - http://www.emergingcommunication.com
3 Being-in-the-world-with: Presence
Meets Social And Cognitive
Neuroscience
Giuseppe RIVA
Abstract: In this chapter we will discuss the concepts of “presence” (Inner
Presence) and “social presence” (Co-presence) within a cognitive and ecological
perspective. Specifically, we claim that the concepts of “presence” and “social
presence” are the possible links between self, action, communication and culture.
In the first section we will provide a capsule view of Heidegger’s work by
examining the two main features of the Heideggerian concept of “being”:
spatiality and “being with”. We argue that different visions from social and
cognitive sciences - Situated Cognition, Embodied Cognition, Enactive Approach,
Situated Simulation, Covert Imitation - and discoveries from neuroscience -
Mirror and Canonical Neurons - have many contact points with this view. In
particular, these data suggest that our conceptual system dynamically produces
contextualized representations (simulations) that support grounded action in
different situations. This is allowed by a common coding - the motor code -
shared by perception, action and concepts. This common coding also allows the
subject for natively recognizing actions done by other selves within the
phenomenological contents. In this picture we argue that the role of presence and
social presence is to allow the process of self-identification through the separation
between “self” and “other,” and between “internal” and “external”. Finally,
implications of this position for communication and media studies are discussed
by way of conclusion.
Contents
3.1 Introduction..................................................................................................48
3.2 “Being-in-the-world-with” : the Vision of Heidegger..................................48
3.3 The “Being-in-the-world” for Cognitive Neuroscience..............................51
3.4 The “Being-in-the-world-with” for Social and Cognitive Neuroscience.......60
3.5 The Missing Links: Presence and Social Presence....................................65
3.6 Conclusions..............................................................................75
3.7 References...............................................................................77