First International Conference in Embodied Cognition and Sport Psychology

EMBODIED COGNITION AND SPORT SCIENCE, A WINNING INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAM

This academic conference aims at exploring important points of connection between the empirical studies of sport psychology and the embodied approach to the cognitive sciences. It will offer a unique occasion of interdisciplinary collaboration, and foster opportunities of reciprocal learning between theoretical and applied sport scientists, exercise and performance psychologists, cognitive neuroscientists, psycholinguists, philosophers of mind, phenomenologists, and practitioners who work in the sport environment, including coaches, trainers, and athletes of various disciplines. 

Embodied cognition theory offers the most suitable paradigm to pursue this integration and cross-disciplinary collaboration: successful sport psychologists recognize that the results and the models of embodied cognitive science can allow them develop more effective training methods; reciprocally, attentive cognitive scientists can’t overlook sport and exercise psychology, as this field is one of the richest terrains for empirical exploration, experimental discovery, and epistemological validation of models and theories. Cooperation between these two fields promises immediate and tangible benefits, as it allows proving the correctness of the theoretical models by testing how effectively they can improve the athletes’ performances; at the same time, it raises the value of sport science for cognitive science, proving how the empirical study of athletic performance can inspire and validate new explanatory models of sensorimotor capabilities, control, attention, memory, and language-action interfaces. Sports can provide invaluable insights for the sciences of mind, telling how skills are actually enacted and controlled, through the body, defining dynamic boundaries between mind and world.

Confirmed keynote speakers:
Tom Carr (Michigan State University)
Dan Hutto (University of Wollongong)
Jesus Ilundain-Agurruza (Linfield College)
Mauro Maldonato (Universita’ della Basilicata)
David L. Mann (Vrije University Amsterdam)
Albert Newen (Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum)
Thomas Patrick (ASPETAR, Doha)

Please send any enquiry or request of participation to Dr Max Cappuccio:
[email protected]

THE HOTTEST CONFERENCE OF THE WINTER

This four-day long conference, co-organized and sponsored by UAE University (College of Humanities and Social Sciences and College of Education) and by Abu Dhabi Sport Council, is presumably going to be the hottest of the Winter (up to 25-30 degrees Celsius): it will be held in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, in a unique landscape framed by the desert dunes, the shores of the Arabian Gulf, and the most futuristic skyscrapers. The first two days (February 24th-25th), dedicated to research themes and theory of the sport sciences, will be held on the brand new state-of-the-art campus of UAE University, the top ranking academic institution of the Gulf region, situated in the ancient oasis city of Al Ain; the remaining two days (February 26th and 27th), dedicated to applied issues related to training and coaching, will take place in Abu Dhabi city, the modern capital of the United Arab Emirates – situated just one hour from the multicultural and trendy metropolis of Dubai.