With Context in Mind, with Mind in Context

Abstract

Classical trends in cognitive neuroscience have mainly approached cognition as a set of compartmentalized, universal, context-free operations. Despite their usefulness, these commitments hinder the development of situated and integrative conceptions of human experience. This chapter sets forth a concise rationale to understand the limitations of such isolationist perspectives and the need for new frameworks that capture the contextual synergies of interwoven processes in the mind. Emphasis is placed on two experiential realms: social cognition (the collection of neuropsychological processes underlying interpersonal behavior and affect) and action-language coupling (the contextual binding of deliberate movements with concomitant verbal information). The principles outlined pave the way for the development of ecological and holistic paradigms in basic and translational neuroscience.