Sensorimotor intentionality: The origins of intentionality in prospective agent action

Abstract

Efficient prospective motor control, evident in human activity from birth, reveals an adaptive intentionality of a primary, pre-reflective, and pre-conceptual nature that we identify here as sensorimotor intentionality. We identify a structural continuity between the emergence of this earliest form of prospective movement and the structure of mental states as intentional or content-directed in more advanced forms. We base our proposal on motor control studies, from foetal observations through infancy. These studies reveal movements are guided by anticipations of future effects, even from before birth. This implies that these movements, even if they are simple and discrete, are the actions of an intentional agent. We develop this notion to present a theory of the developing organisation of a core feature of cognition as embodied agent action, from early single actions with proximal prospectivity to the complex serial ordering of actions into projects to reach distal goals. We claim the prospective structural continuity from early and simple actions to later complex projects of serially-ordered actions confirms the existence of an ontogenetically primary form of content-directedness that is a driver for learning and development. Its implications for understanding autism are discussed.

A Phenomenological Account of Sensorimotor Difficulties in Autism: Intentionality, Movement, and Proprioception

“…On the contrary, the intelligibility of our world is strongly dependent upon expressive properties of our body and the way we move and feel it. This view is coherent with recent research on sensorimotor difficulties in ASD, which draws on the concept of intentionality in order to underline the prospective and anticipatory dimension of our practical behavior and our bodily movements [8,9,14] .…”

“…All these different parameters are internally organized and harmoniously subsumed under intentional structures of a wider focus. This is shown by a recent analysis from Delafield-Butt and Gangopadhyay [8] . The authors establish that goal-directed behavior is hierarchically structured into different levels of complexity [ 8 , p. 411].…”

“…For instance, researchers put forth difficulties in proactive and anticipatory control of movements [8,14,18] . They observed that people with autism usually adapt their movements only after failing a first try.…”

“…There is growing awareness that understanding autism presupposes an analysis of the sensorimotor structures, which underlie the wide range of its symptomatology [1,8,9] . As a matter of fact, even though not always explicitly recognized, sensorimotor processes constitute the functional ground for all social interactions as well as communication impairments and repetitive-restricted behaviors.…”

The Primacy of Movement in Development

“…Studies of human movement demonstrate the intentionality of movement even as early as the second trimester in utero [10]. ASD has its origin in early prenatal failure of movement, timing and coordination.…”