La recherche s'appuie sur trois hypothèses fondamentales : 1) il existe un lien entre les processus cognitifs de bas et haut niveau; 2) l'espace sensori-rnoteur est une perception subjective; et 3) l'espace sensori-rnoteur varie en fonction des différentes conduites à l'intérieur des interactions sociales. La thèse soutient que l'espace sensori-rnoteur se laisse modeler par la simple co-présence humaine et par des interactions coopératives plutôt que non-coopératives. Les chapitres 1, II, III, ont pour but de décomposer et d'expliquer la signification des hypothèses 1), 2) et 3) qui débouchent sur la formulation de la thèse centrale que le chapitre TV démontrera expérimentalement. Le chapitre V ouvre des perspectives éthiques en formulant une nouvelle hypothèse sur le lien qui pourrait exister entre la perception de l'espace en situation d'interaction sociale et les jugements moraux. La recherche met en œuvre plusieurs des disciplines qui concourent aux sciences cognitives: la neuro-psychologie expérimentale, certains aspects de la psychologie sociale, mais aussi l'histoire de la philosophie et la philosophie de l'esprit contemporaine. / This research arises from the following three main hypotheses: 1) Low and high-level cognitive processes are bound together; 2) Sensorimotor space is a subjective perception; and 3) Sensorimotor space varies as a function of different types of social behaviours. The thesis argues that sensorimotor space is shaped by both mere co-presence of another human body and cooperative or uncooperative interactions. Chapters l, Il, III aim at analyzing and explaining the meaning of the first, the second and the third hypothesis in order to advance the primary thesis. Chapter V opens up an ethical perspective about a possible bound between spatial perception and moral evaluations during social interactions. This work is enriched by several constitutive disciplines of cognitive sciences : conternporary philosophy, philosophy of mind, experimental neuropsychology and some topics studied by social psychology. / La ricerca ha preso le mosse da tre ipotesi fondamentali: 1) Esiste un legame tra processi cognitivi di basso ed alto livello; 2) Lo spazio senso-motorio è una percezione soggettiva; 3) Lo spazio senso-motorio varia in funzione delle diverse modalità di interazione sociale. La tesi sostiene che lo spazio senso-motorio si lascia modulare dalla semplice co-presenza di un altro agente umano e da interazioni cooperative e non cooperative. I capitoli I, II, III, hanno lo scopo di scomporre e spiegare il significato della prima, seconda e terza ipotesi; giungendo a formulare la tesi centrale che sarà poi dimostrata sperimentalmente nel capitolo IV. Il capitolo V introduce future linee di ricerca nell’ambito dell’etica proponendo una nuova ipotesi sul legame che potrebbe sussistere tra la percezione dello spazio durante l’interazione sociale e i giudizi morali. Il lavoro svolto chiama ad operare insieme diverse discipline che concorrono a formare le scienze cognitive: la storia della filosofia, la filosofia della mente contemporanea, la neuropsicologia sperimentale ed alcuni temi della psicologia sociale.

Neurons are sensitive to specific aspects of natural stimuli, which are according to different statistical criteria an optimal representation of the natural sensory input. Since these representations are purely sensory, it is still an open question whether they are suited to generate meaningful behavior. Here we introduce an optimization scheme that applies a statistical criterion to an agent s sensory input while taking its motor behavior into account. We first introduce a general cognitive model, and second develop an optimization scheme that increases the predictability of the sensory outcome of the agent s motor actions and apply this to a navigational paradigm.In the cognitive model, place cells divide the environment into discrete states, similar to hippocampal place cells. The agents learned the sensory outcome of its action by the state-to-state transition probabilities and the extent to which these motor actions are caused by sensory-driven reflexive behavior (obstacle avoidance). Navigational decision making integrates both learned components to derive the actions that are most likely to lead to a navigational goal. Next we introduced an optimization process that modified the state distributions to increase the predictability of the sensory outcome of the agent s actions.The cognitive model successfully performs the navigational task, and the differentiation between transitions and reflexive processing increases both behavioral accuracy, as well as behavioral adaptation to changes in the environment. Further, the optimized sensory states are similar to place fields found in behaving animals. The spatial distribution of states depends on the agent s motor capabilities as well as on the environment. We proofed the generality of predictability as a coding principle by comparing it to the existing ones. Our results suggest that the agent s motor apparatus can play a profound role in the formation of place fields and thus in higher sensory representations.