*** CALL FOR PAPERS ***
13th European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL 2015)
Special Session on Quantifying Embodiment

Session paper submission deadline:  2 March 2015
Notification of acceptance of papers:  17 April 2015
Paper Camera-Ready-Copy deadline: 18 May 2015
Conference convenes: 20-24 July 2015,
York, United Kingdom
Conference website:  http://ecal2015.alife.org
Special Session website: http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/nature/ecal2015/embodiment.html

There is a growing acknowledgement in the artificial life and artificial intelligence community that embodiment is a key for the understanding of cognitive systems. Despite the consensus about the importance of embodiment, there is no clear definition of what the agent’s embodiment actually is. We believe that a quantitative approach can help to answer this open question. This is inspired by Einstein’s answer to the question ”What is time?”, to which he replied ”Time is what clocks measure”. Although this seems to be a trivial answer, it reveals that what we mean by time depends on the way we measure it. 

We are interested in quantifications of embodiment from various view points and different fields. A non-exclusive list of examples is:
• Quantifications of the embodiment’s effect on sensing
• Quantifications of the embodiment’s effect on cognitive processes
• Quantifications of the embodiment’s effect on acting
• Quantifications of brain-body-environment separation 
We are open to quantifications from any formal approach. Examples are information theory and dynamical systems, but others are highly welcome too. The ideal outcome of the special session would be a good overview of different concepts and quantifications of embodiment and an understanding how they overlap and differ, thereby leading to a better understanding and a clearer picture of what embodiment actually is.

Papers are submitted via the ECAL paper submission form and published in the conference proceedings.

Special Session Chairs:
Keyan Ghazi-Zahedi, Christoph Salge, Georg Martius, Daniel Polani