How the Body Shapes the Way We Think: A New View of Intelligence
Abstract
An exploration of embodied intelligence and its implications points toward a theory of intelligence in general; with case studies of intelligent systems in ubiquitous computing, business and management, human memory, and robotics.How could the body influence our thinking when it seems obvious that the brain controls the body? In How the Body Shapes the Way We Think, Rolf Pfeifer and Josh Bongard demonstrate that thought is not independent of the body but is tightly constrained, and at the same time enabled, by it. They argue that the kinds of thoughts we are capable of have their foundation in our embodiment—in our morphology and the material properties of our bodies.This crucial notion of embodiment underlies fundamental changes in the field of artificial intelligence over the past two decades, and Pfeifer and Bongard use the basic methodology of artificial intelligence—"understanding by building"—to describe their insights. If we understand how to design and build intelligent systems, they reason, we will better understand intelligence in general. In accessible, nontechnical language, and using many examples, they introduce the basic concepts by building on recent developments in robotics, biology, neuroscience, and psychology to outline a possible theory of intelligence. They illustrate applications of such a theory in ubiquitous computing, business and management, and the psychology of human memory. Embodied intelligence, as described by Pfeifer and Bongard, has important…
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Sensorimotor engagements may promote SOHM formation by providing coherent sources of correlated information, thus affording the possibility of learning even more sophisticated models.
“Further, these sensorimotor engagements may promote SOHM formation by providing coherent sources of correlated information, thus affording the possibility of learning even more sophisticated models (Pfeifer and Bongard, 2006; Safron, 2019a,c).”
From An Integrated World Modeling Theory (IWMT) of Consciousness (2020) · cites this paper as Pfeifer and Bongard, 2006
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Nakajima, K., Hauser, H., Li, T., & Pfeifer, R. (2015) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/srep10487 · Cited by 324 · see citing works
Self-citationBarrett, L., Henzi, S. P., & Lusseau, D. (2012) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0113 · Cited by 183 · see citing works
Safron, A. (2020) · Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence · doi:10.3389/frai.2020.00030 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
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Self-citationReafference and the origin of the self in early nervous system evolution
Jékely, G., Godfrey-Smith, P., & Keijzer, F. (2021) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B · doi:10.1098/rstb.2019.0764 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
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“Because physical and physiological constraints influence catch success, we use an embodied cognition approach [12].”
BackgroundMethodArtificial embodied circuits uncover neural architectures of vertebrate visuomotor behaviors
Liu, X., Loring, M. D., Zunino, L., Fouke, K. E., Longchamp, F. A., Bernardino, A., Ijspeert, A. J., & Naumann, E. A. (2025) · Science Robotics · doi:10.1126/scirobotics.adv4408 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Damiano, L., Fleres, A., Roli, A., & Stano, P. (2026) · Frontiers in Robotics and AI · doi:10.3389/frobt.2025.1694338 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
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Brain-inspired spatial intelligence for embodied agents
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- Authors
- Pfeifer, R., & Bongard, J.
- ORCID
- Bongard, Josh
- Venue
- The MIT Press eBooks
- Publisher
- The MIT Press
- Published
- 2006
- OpenAlex
- W4231327205
- Cited by
- 956
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 79 · 2025: 58 · 2024: 53 · 2023: 61 · 2022: 51 · 2021: 65 · 2020: 57 · 2019: 61 · 2018: 46 · 2017: 63 · 2016: 47 · 2015: 38 · 2014: 51 · 2013: 49 · 2012: 51
- FWCI
- 5.80
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The MIT Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Psychiatry, Mental Health, Neuroscience
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Cybernetics and Technology in Society
- Keywords
- embodied AI, embodiment, intelligence theory, body and cognition, morphology, intelligent systems, robotics, ubiquitous computing, human memory, business and management, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, psychology
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