Foraging, Learning, and Knowing

We come ready to investigate, to search for coherence and meaning. Embedded in the process of satisfying our basic wants and needs are a lot of problem-solving skills — something I like to call “cephalic capabilities.” I use the word cephalic, an older word not much used in the neurosciences, because of its link to the brain in the context of the body. Our brains are not “a brain in a vat” — that is, a brain detached from action and divorced from the contours of adaptation; rather, a brain is part of a body in space and time that is the rare limiting factor for behavior and experience. This chapter deals with some of the foraging skills our cephalic capabilities allow.