Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38984275›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in psychology2024

Naturalizing relevance realization: why agency and cognition are fundamentally not computational.

Johannes Jaeger, Anna Riedl, Alex Djedovic, John Vervaeke, Denis Walsh

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Stable Diffusion Models Reveal a Persisting Human-AI Gap in Visual Creativity.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026
    Article
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  4. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Johannes JaegerDepartment of Philosophy, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Anna RiedlMiddle European Interdisciplinary Master's Program in Cognitive Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Alex DjedovicCognitive Science Program, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
John VervaekeDepartment of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Denis WalshInstitute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The way organismic agents come to know the world, and the way algorithms solve problems, are fundamentally different. The most sensible course of action for an organism does not simply follow from logical rules of inference. Before it can even use such rules, the organism must tackle the problem of relevance. It must turn ill-defined problems into well-defined ones, turn semantics into syntax. This ability to realize relevance is present in all organisms, from bacteria to humans. It lies at the root of organismic agency, cognition, and consciousness, arising from the particular autopoietic, anticipatory, and adaptive organization of living beings. In this article, we show that the process of relevance realization is beyond formalization. It cannot be captured completely by algorithmic approaches. This implies that organismic agency (and hence cognition as well as consciousness) are at heart

Indexed as

adaptationanticipationautopoiesiscognitionnatural agencyopen-ended evolutionradical emergencerelevance realization

Identifiers

PMID38984275
PMCPMC11231436

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.