NASS XII abstract review

Today I have done abstract review for NASS XII, as part of the conference´s scientific committee.

Search image article published in paginated version; final reference

My article on Jakob von Uexküll´s "search image" notion has been paginated and published in its final version (it was published online last autumn). The article, which is part of a special issue on code biology, is for a limited time freely available online. 

Final reference:

Tønnessen, Morten 2017 (online) / 2018 (print). The search image as a link between sensation, perception and action. BioSystems 164 (special issue on Code Biology edited by Marcello Barbieri and Jan-Hendrik Hofmeyr): 138–146. Published online November 4th 2017. DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2017.10.016.

Work lunch with research theme

Today I discussed aspects of a program area research application with a colleague during a work lunch.

Abstract for NoSP 2017: " The search image as link between sensation, perception and action"

I have just submitted the abstract below to NoSP 2017, the 15th annual conference of the Nordic Society for phenomenology, entitled "Phenomenology and the body - Contemporary perspectives". 

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The search image as link between sensation, perception and action

As part of his Umwelt theory, a theory on the subjective, experiential worlds of animals, Jakob von Uexküll (1864–1944) introduced the notion of the search image (Suchbild). A search image is an imagined object that an animal or human being has in mind as it searches for something. The search image plays a central role in what I have termed the mediated Umwelt, the aspect of Umwelt in which Umwelt objects are encountered indirectly by way of some mediation (e.g. memory, fantasy, anticipation). It is generally related to an animal´s agenda- or interest-driven matching of something it is searching for with something in its environment. Search images are key to understanding how perception works as distinguished from sensation, and how an animal´s perception and action are connected. The search image acts as an intermediary between perception and action, and between the mediated Umwelt and the core Umwelt, the aspect of Umwelt in which Umwelt objects are encountered directly. The imagined object has the form of a schema, and encountered objects may or may not be perceived as fitting with the anticipated schema. The perception of a match may furthermore be either correct or incorrect. Object recognition occurs when an encountered object is correctly perceived as fitting with an anticipated schema. But search images, with their implied schemata, may also be confused with actual perception images of encountered objects. The functioning of search images can help explain why it is that action-related brain activity appears to precede the experience of having made a choice of action. When an animal or a human being operates with a search image, we anticipate encountering the imagined object. We act not only in response to encountered objects, but also in response to imagined ones.

Search image paper to appear in BioSystems

My paper in process "The search image as a link between sensation, perception and action" is part of a planned special issue on code biology. It is now clear that the special issue will appear in the Elsevier journal BioSystems. A call for papers has just been announced.

See also:

Search image paper to appear in special issue on code biology

Paper "Synchronicity in human perception of animals" presented at IVSA 2016

I have just presented my paper "Synchronicity in human perception of animals" at IVSA 2016, the annual conference of the International Visual Sociology Association (Lillehammer June 22-24th). Some 12 people were present.

Work on three wolf-related articles

Today I met with colleague Paul Thibault to commence work on two articles related to field work on human perceptions of wolves and related animals, and one article on proto-language in wolves.

Dissemination article on perceptions of wolves published on phys.org

On December 8th, the dissemination story "People's experience of wildlife predators must be highlighted in the debate about them" by Benedicte Pentz was published by phys.org, a science, research and technology news website. As of today the article, which summarises field work on human perceptions of wolves and related animals, has 273 likes on Facebook. 

This is the English version of a dissemination article which has previously appeared in Norwegian.

Talk on human perceptions of wolves and other animals scheduled for June 5th at noon

My presentation, to be given with Paul Thibault, "Human Perceptions of Wolves and other Animals in Kristiansand, Kautokeino and Rendalen" (see abstract) has been scheduled for presentation at 12.00-13.30. The presentation will be given at the 3rd research seminar of the Norwegian research group in the project "Animals in changing environments: Cultural mediation and semiotic analysis".

Abstract for 3rd EMP151 research seminar: "Human Perceptions of Wolves and other Animals in Kristiansand, Kautokeino and Rendalen"

Paul Thibault and I have today composed the abstract below for the 3rd Norwegian research seminar in the Estonian-Norwegian research project "Animals in changing environments: Cultural mediation and semiotic analysis" (University of Stavanger, June 5th).

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Human Perceptions of Wolves and other Animals in Kristiansand, Kautokeino and Rendalen 

Paul Thibault (University of Agder) and Morten Tønnessen (University of Stavanger) 

This paper presents fieldwork focused on people´s perception of wolves and selected animals which the wolf is often perceived as being in conflict with. The data analyzed in this paper consists of video-recordings of a series of semi-structured interviews conducted in Norway in Spring 2015 in three locations. During these interviews, participants were shown and asked to respond to display materials featuring wolves and other animals – particularly reindeer (Kautokeino, Finnmark) and sheep (Rendalen, Hedmark). Other study animals include hunting dogs, lynx and moose. Reindeer and sheep were selected for study due to their centrality in regional discourses on wolf management. At each of the interview locations (including the pilot study in Kristiansand, Vest-Agder), participants were recruited from relevant interest groups, including environmentalists, hunters, sheep farmers and reindeer herders. 11 interviews are included in the data presented here (4 in Kristiansand, 3 in Kautokeino, 4 in Rendalen). 

Using techniques derived from Multimodal Interaction Analysis (MIA), the study analyzes participants´ accounts of, attitudes to and reactions towards selected display materials. The term ´perception´ used in the title of this paper refers to participants´ experience with, ideas about and attitudes towards the study animals, as revealed in the interviews. Methodologically, display materials were used in order to elicit responses that provide information about the participants´ perceptions of the study animals. The display materials included video clips, audio recordings of animal vocalizations, and images. The semi-structured interviews also included a few standard questions.  

The techniques of MIA were deployed in order to analyze the full range of interviewees´ meaning-making resources, including vocal utterances, gesture, facial expressions and other relevant body movements. The purpose of the MIA was to identify salient cultural thematic patterns, evaluative stances and feelings experienced by the participants in their encounter with the display materials and their recounts of their experiences of the study animals. Furthermore, a comparative analysis was developed of relevant patterns in the data that showed differences and similarities in the perceptions of the different interest groups. Moreover, a comparative analysis was also undertaken based on the different geographical locations where the data was gathered. 

The paper will present preliminary findings concerning the different ways in which interviewees performed and enacted their experiences of the study animals through body dynamics, verbal patterns and orientation to cultural values. The display material included in the interviews were designed to elicit different responses and interpretations, without prompting from the interviewer. In particular the audio clips and images proved, in many instances, to be highly ambiguous and open to diverse interpretations.  

Acknowledgements: This work has been carried out thanks to the support of the research project Animals in Changing Environments: Cultural Mediation and Semiotic Analysis (EEA Norway Grants/Norway Financial Mechanism 2009–2014 under project contract no. EMP151). Laura Kiiroja contributed to cataloguing and coding the video-recordings as a valuable stage in the preparation of the analyses developed in this paper.

Two papers accepted for presentation at "Animals in the Anthropocene" conference

A week ago I was formally informed that two abstracts I am co-author of have been accepted as basis for oral presentation at the September 17-19 University of Stavanger conference "Animals in the Anthropocene: Human-animal relations in a changing semiosphere". The two abstracts, both of which are co-authored with Paul Thibault, are titled "Proto-language in wolves" and "Human Perceptions of Wolves and other Animals in Contemporary Norway" respectively.

I am the chair of the Local organising committee of the conference and have been coordinating the work of the Scientific advisory committee, but have of course not taken part in the evaluation of these two abstracts.

Abstract for "Animals in the Anthropocene" conference: "Human Perceptions of Wolves and other Animals in Contemporary Norway"

On Friday this week I took part in composing and submitting the abstract below to the September 17-19th conference "Animals in the Anthropocene: Human-animal relations in a changing semiosphere".

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Human Perceptions of Wolves and other Animals in Contemporary Norway

Paul Thibault (University of Agder) and Morten Tønnessen (University of Stavanger)

This paper presents fieldwork focused on people´s perception of wolves and selected animals the wolf is often perceived as being in conflict with. The data consists of video-recordings of a series of semi-structured interviews conducted in Norway in 2015, specifically at five locations. During these interviews, participants were shown and asked to respond to display materials featuring wolves and other animals. Study animals other than wolves include hunting dogs (particularly in Moss), reindeer (particularly in Kautekeino) and sheep (particularly in Rendalen). These animals were selected for study due to their centrality in regional discourses on wolf management. At each of the three main locations (excluding pilot study and control group), participants were recruited from relevant interest groups, which included hunters, sheep farmers, reindeer herders, mushroom gatherers, and hikers.

Using techniques derived from Multimodal Interaction Analysis (MIA), the study analysed participants´ accounts of, attitudes to and reactions towards selected display materials. The term ´perception´ used in the title of this paper refers to participants´ experience with, ideas about and attitudes towards the study animals, as revealed in the interviews. Methodologically, display materials were used in order to elicit responses that provide information about the participants´ perceptions of the study animals. The display materials included video clips, audio recordings of animal vocalizations, and images. The semi-structured interviews also included a few standard questions. 

The techniques of MIA were deployed in order to analyse the full range of interviewees´ meaning-making resources, including vocal utterances, gesture, facial expressions and other relevant body movements. The purpose of the MIA was to identify salient cultural thematic patterns, evaluative stances and feelings experiences by the participants in their encounter with the display materials and their recounts of their experiences of the study animals. Furthermore, a comparative analysis was developed of relevant patterns in the data that showed differences and similarities in the perceptions of the different interest groups. Moreover, a comparative analysis was also undertaken based on the different geographical locations where the data was gathered.

Acknowledgement: This work has been carried out thanks to the support of the research project Animals in Changing Environments: Cultural Mediation and Semiotic Analysis (EEA Norway Grants/Norway Financial Mechanism 2009–2014 under project contract no. EMP151).

Chapter draft "Human Perceptions of Animals: A Multi-Modal Interaction Analysis of Interview Data" composed

A few days ago I uploaded/submitted a first draft of the chapter "Human Perceptions of Animals: A Multi-Modal Interaction Analysis of Interview Data", which I write along with Paul Thibault. The chapter is to be published in Spring 2016 as part of the collective monograph Semiotic Methods in the Study of Human-Animal Interactions (Tartu: Tartu University Press).

A full, edited paper is due May 31st.

See also:
Chapter with Paul Thibault renamed "Human Perceptions of Animals: A Multi-Modal Interaction Analysis of Interview Data"

Abstract for Gathering in biosemiotics 15: "The ontogeny of precocial vs. altricial Umwelten"

Yesterday around Midnight I composed the abstract below and submitted it to the 15th international Gathering in Biosemiotics (Copenhagen, 30 June - 4 July 2015).

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The ontogeny of precocial vs. altricial Umwelten

Morten Tønnessen, University of Stavanger

The model organism in Uexküll’s Umwelt theory (Uexküll 2010 etc.) is an adult organism. In the case of embryos, fetuses and, in many species, neonates and young specimen, his dictum that an animal’s Umwelt only consists of those questions that the animal can answer does not apply. As Magnus (2011: 41) observes, Uexküll distinguishes between the time of becoming and the time of being, where “[t]he time of becoming equals the time needed for developing functioning organs; the time of being on the other hand covers the time when the organs have acquired their final form and as such are ready for use.”

The human species is not the only species that is not born ‘ready-made’. Whereas individuals of precocial species are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching, and thus quite independent from the outset, individuals of altricial species, whether mammals or birds, are relatively helpless as newborn/newly hatched, and require adult care. As Starck and Ricklefs (1998: 23) write, many insectivores, all rabbits, many rodents and most carnivores

give birth to small neonates that have closed eyes and ears, and no hair, are generally poorly developed, and are dependent on maternal care for a long lactation period. Newborn marsupials and monotremes are extremes, resembling early embryos, even compared to other altricial mammals. Precocial neonates are found among the ungulates […] and several rodent taxa.

Given the noticeable, axiomatic correspondence between physiology and Umwelt, the Umwelten of altricial species are at the beginning of life radically different from the Umwelten of precocial species. Briefly put, whereas precocial Umwelten are largely functional from the outset (and can thus be studied in isolation, as it were), altricial Umwelten become fully functional only gradually (and must therefore be studied in conjunction with the Umwelten of other individuals on which they depend).

In the course of this presentation I will also offer a brief overview of the ontogeny of the embryonic, foetal and infant human Umwelt (Tønnessen 2014). Fundamental questions that will be addressed include: At what point does the human Umwelt emerge? What Umwelt transitions can be identified in the ontogenesis of the early human Umwelt? What is characteristic of the Umwelt trajectory of human embryos/foetuses/infants? And, how are Umwelt objects established/crystallized/fixated in the human Umwelt?

Acknowledgement: This work has been supported by the research project “Animals in Changing Environments: Cultural Mediation and Semiotic Analysis” (EEA Norway Grants/Norway Financial Mechanism 2009–2014 under project contract no. EMP151).

References

Magnus, Riin 2011. Time-plans of the organisms: Jakob von Uexküll’s explorations into the temporal constitution of living beings. Sign Systems Studies 39(2/4): 37–57.

Starck, J. Matthias; Ricklefs, Robert E. 1998. Patterns of development: The altricial–precocial spectrum. In: Starck, J. Matthias; Ricklefs, Robert E. (eds.), Avian Growth and Development: Evolution within the Altricial-Precocial Spectrum. New York: Oxford University Press, 3–30.

Tønnessen, Morten 2014. The ontogeny of the embryonic, foetal and infant human umwelt. Sign Systems Studies 42 (2/3) (Special Issue “Sign evolution on multiple time scales” guest-edited by Kristian Tylén and Luis Emilio Bruni): 281–307.
Uexküll, Jakob von 2010. A Foray into the Worlds of Animals and Humans with a Theory of Meaning [orig. Uexküll 1956 [1934/1940]; O’Neil Joseph, trans.] Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press.

"Codes and interpretation in perception" conference presentation now online

Several presentations from the First International Conference in Code Biology (Paris May 21-23 2014) has now been published online. This includes my presentation Codes and interpretation in perception - 26 slides (see also previous posts).

Codes and interpretation paper presented

On Friday 23rd of May I presented my paper "Codes and interpretation in perception" at the 1st International Conference in Code Biology (May 21-23, Paris). Some 30 people attended. Discussion following my presentation was positive and constructive.

Code biology abstract book

The abstract book of the upcoming First International Conference in Code Biology (Paris May 21-23) is now online. My abstract, "Codes and interpretation in perception", is to be found on p. 30.

See also:

"Codes and interpretation in perception" scheduled for presentation May 23rd (Paris)

"Codes and interpretation in perception" scheduled for presentation May 23rd (Paris)

My paper "Codes and interpretation in perception" has been scheduled for presentation at First International Conference in Code Biology (Paris May 21-23) on Friday May 23rd at 12.00-12.30.

Full programme (presenter last name and time) here.

See also:

Abstract for 1st code biology conference: "Codes and interpretation in perception"

Abstract for 1st code biology conference: "Codes and interpretation in perception"

Yesterday I submitted the abstract below to the 1st International Conference in Code Biology (Paris, France, May 21-23, 2014).

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Codes and interpretation in perception

Morten Tønnessen, Associate professor at University of Stavanger’s Department of health studies 

In this talk I present work in progress on the role of interpretation vs. codes in perception, where perception is understood in terms of coherent (unified) subjective experience. I follow Jakob von Uexküll (1956, cf. 2010) in assuming that all organisms except plants and fungi have such coherent, unified subjective experience (i.e. Umwelt experience). 

My starting point is the tripartite Umwelt model (Tønnessen 2011), according to which any Umwelt has two aspects (core and mediated) and some have three (including conceptual). In Tønnessen, forthcoming, I outline the workings of the Umwelt in terms of these three aspects in more detail. We can generally conceive of six types, or categories, of acts, and these can be located within the three different aspects of the Umwelt: 

 Core Umwelt

- Automated acts of perception 

- Automated mental acts

Mediated Umwelt 

- Wilful acts of perception 

 - Wilful mental acts

Conceptual Umwelt    

- Habitual acts of perception 

- Habitual mental acts  

By automated, I mean the exact and physiologically based matching of something with something else, by wilful I mean the agenda- and interest-driven matching of something with something else, and by habitual I mean the learned matching of something with something else. Whereas conscious animals carry out all six types of acts, non-conscious creatures, in so far as they perceive, only carry out two, namely automated and wilful acts of perception. Habitual, i.e. conceptual acts are reserved for conscious creatures, but even bacteria can carry out wilful acts of perception, i.e. make choices based on interpretation. 

In general terms automated acts can be said to be code-based, whereas both wilful and habitual acts are interpretation-based. An implication of this claim is that the core Umwelt is generally code-based, and that the mediated Umwelt and the conceptual Umwelt are interpretation-based. If this is correct, the interpretive threshold is not located where animals with a nervous system meet creatures without a nervous system, nor where the biotic meets the abiotic. Instead, the interpretive threshold must be located where core experience meets mediated experience (and since these aspects often intermingle, the dividing line is not in plain sight). 

Questions for further investigation include the following: Can coding in automated acts of perception and in automated mental acts be understood within the framework of code biology (Barbieri, de Beule and Hofmeyr 2014)? Particularly, can they be understood as organic codes? While I have only begun reflecting on the notion of code itself, I will relate codes in perception as presented here to the notions of a neural code and of ecological codes. 

Acknowledgement: The research leading to these results received funding from the Norway Financial Mechanism 2009-2014 under project contract no EMP151, “Animals in changing environments: Cultural mediation and semiotic analysis”. 

References

Barbieri, Marcello, Joachim de Beule and Jan-Hendrik Hofmeyr 2014. “Code biology: A glossary of terms and concepts”. URL: http://www.codebiology.org/glossary.html.

Tønnessen 2011. Umwelt Transition and Uexküllian Phenomenology – An Ecosemiotic Analysis of Norwegian Wolf Management (= Dissertationes Semioticae Universitatis Tartuensis 16). Doctoral dissertation. Tartu: Tartu University Press. 232 pp. Introduction available online.

Tønnessen, Morten, forthcoming. „Umwelt and language“. Cahiers de l’ILSL[l'Institut de Linguistique et des Sciences du Langage], special issue „Biosemiotic perspectives in linguistics“, edited by Ekaterina Velmezova, Stephen Cowley and Kalevi Kull.

Uexküll, Jakob von, 1956 [1934/1940]: Streifzüge durch die Umwelten von Tieren und Menschen: Ein Bilderbuch unsichtbarer Welten. Bedeutungslehre. Hamburg: Rowohlt.

Uexküll, Jakob von, 2010: A Foray into the Worlds of Animals and Humans with a Theory of Meaning. Trans. of Uexküll 1956 [1934, 1940] by Joseph D. O’Neil. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press.

SAMKUL decision on PERLAR etc. delayed

The research program SAMKUL (Samfunnsutviklingens kulturelle forutsetninger - the cultural preconditions of societal development) was supposed to give notice about what research projects get funding at some point in October. However, the process is delayed and decisions will only be taken November 22nd-23rd.

The prospective research project "Perceptions of Animal Agency: Large Predators and other Cultured Animals" (PERLAR), with Paul Thibault as Project Manager and myself as Assistant Project Manager, is one of 138 applications. 12-14 projects are expected to get funding.