Ed Baggs, assistant professor at the University of Southern Denmark, joins me for a conversation about his research on affordances. I invited Ed to join me after reading his latest (preprint) paper ‘The Affordance Hypothesis. In this paper Ed and his co-author Vicente Raja delve into affordance research, using examples like an African fish eagle hunting bee-eaters to illustrate direct perception.

Ed discusses his journey from traditional cognitive science to exploring affordances in language and human interactions. Though the paper they reference, among many others, James's Principles of Psychology and Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, to contextualise Gibson's work. Ed emphasises the need to move beyond categorisation-based thinking to a field-based approach, using action boundaries to operationalise affordances.

As a key part of the operationalisation problem (how to study affordances without falling back into categorical thinking), Ed explains the long-standing debate over affordances' ontological status, referencing Fodor and Pylyshyn's critique and Turvey et al.'s response. In their paper, Ed and Vicente propose viewing affordances as regions of movement space rather than categories.

The discontinuity problem addresses how humans use language to categorise things, and therefore perceive affordances differently from other animals.

The conversation also touches on the practical implications for coaches and athletes, emphasising the importance of shared perceptions and meaningful affordances.

There is so much in here. It is worth listening to Episode 60 with Dr Andrew Wilson for an introduction to affordances, and to Episode 1 with Dr James Stafford and Warren Lampard for a conversation about action boundaries and using affordances in practice.

About my guest

Edward Baggs is assistant professor in humanities at the University of Southern Denmark and a fellow at the Danish Institute for Advanced Study. His work focuses on the problem of scaling up embodied cognitive science beyond the individual mind to encompass collaborative activity as well as cognitive development and language. His current interests include direct social perception theory and developing field-based methods for observing cognition in everyday settings.

Links

Ed Baggs on ‘x’ https://x.com/edbaggs/status/1867584095720779812

Preprint full paper DOI https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/xu4wk

YouTube clip of the African Fish Eagle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW-BSDZ7iqc&pp=ygUWYWZyaWNhbiBmaXNoIGVhZ2xlIGJiYw%3D%3D

Karen Adolph visual cliff research clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WanGt1G6ScA

How direct is visual perception?: Some reflections on Gibson's “ecological approach.' J.A. Fodor, & Z.W. Pylyshyn (1981) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0010027781900093?via%3Dihub

Ecological laws of perceiving and acting: In reply to Fodor and Pylyshyn (1981) Turvey et al. (1981) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/16000703_Ecological_laws_of_perceiving_and_acting_In_reply_to_Fodor_and_Pylyshyn_1981

Yuji Suzuki, a strength and conditioning coach and chiropractor based in Portland, Oregon, discusses his transition to an ecological approach in his work with youth and remote clients. He explains how the COVID-19 pandemic led him to explore online resources, which introduced him to the ecological principles of human movement learning.

Yuji emphasises the importance of allowing clients to explore their own movements rather than imposing rigid biomechanical models. He also highlights the benefits of remote coaching, which encourages clients to become more independent and self-regulating in their movement practices.

Yuji and I discuss the evolving understanding of pain, emphasising its complexity and the shift from singular to multifaceted approaches. Yuji highlights the importance of considering individual contexts, histories, and environments in pain management.

Yuji describes the role of clinicians as guiding rather than just diagnosing, focusing on continuous support. We explore the cultural attitudes towards aging and movement in the UK and US. Additionally, we delve into the role of chiropractic care, with Yuji emphasising a more ecological approach beyond spinal adjustments, and the importance of movement exploration and behavioural adaptation.

About my guest:
Yuji works as a strength and conditioning coach in Portland, Oregon, USA working mainly with the youth population locally. Additionally, he utilises his background as a chiropractor to provide remote coaching for individuals navigating pain and performance related obstacles. He is an advocate for adopting an ecological dynamics approach in performance training, pain management and rehabilitation.

Where to find Yuji:
Instagram profile: https://www.instagram.com/yujgains/

X profile: https://x.com/yujisuzukidc

This is a special edition of the podcast. I'm not only passionate about coaching and learning in adventure and equestrian sports, they are an integral part of my life. In this episode I am joined by the three amazing women with whom I shared a wonderful adventure this summer.

Sue Couling, Jenna Sanders and Louise Royle join me to capture our summer adventure stand up paddle boarding around the beautiful Isle of Anglesey in North Wales.

The most amazing and special thing about adventure and equestrian sports are the people. I count myself blessed to have been able to spend my time with so many amazing people this year, on the yard, out hiking, and playing on the water. Our nonlinear (of course) circumnavigation around the Isle of Anglesey was the highlight of my year and a chance to get out and immerse myself in the stunningly beautiful seascapes of my home country with some special people.

My guests on this episode:

Louise, Sue and Jenna are all active coaches. If you would like some coaching or coach development with these three amazing women, here are their contacts.

Louise Royle https://www.instagram.com/louise.royle.paddler/

Sue Couling https://www.facebook.com/sue.couling.3

Jenna Sanders https://www.facebook.com/flyinggeckooutdoors