“Perceptual Learning and Agency”

GRIN conference by Maxime Doyon (Université de Montréal)

The conference will also be presented on Zoom.

Abstract

The presentation focuses on perceptual learning, which philosophers and scientists alike standardly take to involve long-lasting change in our perceptual capacities and dispositions that results from practice or experience (E. Gibson 1963). Although phenomenology has traditionally shown little interest in the question of perceptual learning per se, my aim in this talk is to show how it can contribute to the ongoing discussion over both the nature and scope of perceptual learning. By drawing insights and conceptual tools from both the classical and more contemporary repertoire, I will sketch out a new account of perceptual learning and defend two theses. It will be argued, first, that both skill acquisition and the formation of motor habit are not just physiological phenomena but real instances of perceptual learning. Taking into consideration the embodiment of our perceptual skills will bring me to slightly alter the traditional definition of perceptual learning and consider an array of new cases. Secondly, I will argue that these bodily transformations shows that perceptual learning can have a yet under-appreciated function in the contemporary scientific and philosophical literature on the topic. In addition to freeing up cognitive resources (Connolly 2019) and enhancing our discriminatory power (Jenkins 2023), I will contend that learning can impact agency by demonstrating how skilled behaviour facilitates the way we navigate the world.