Embodiment of knowledge in the sensory system and its contribution to sensorimotor integration: the role of sensors in representational and epistemological issues

In most cases the structure and architecture of the neural system are held responsible for the representational function of a cognitive system. Traditional approaches assume that there is an input which is processed by the representation system. In most models the process of how the environmental signals are transformed into neural signals/representations is not taken into serious consideration. Think, for instance, of symbolic systems where the input (=linguistic description of the environment) is already represented in symbols-the question how these symbols are constructed from the interaction with the environment is not even asked (similar patterns can be found in most ANN-applications); in other words, the process of transduction, symbolization, and active sensorimotor interaction with the environment is shifted back to the user/designer of the system. It is clear that such an approach is not adequate, if we are interested in an explanation of cognitive systems. In this paper I stress that the sensory/receptor systems play an equally important role in the process of representation as the neural substratum itself.