My primary research interests focus at the intersection of philosophy of mind, philosophy of cognitive science, philosophy of performance, and aesthetics. An important bridge between these areas concerns how to best conceptualize and model the cognitive processes underlying artistic practices. Consider the case of jazz improvisation, for example. How do jazz musicians create novel performances “on the fly” that obey the various musical conventions of jazz? How do groups of jazz musicians spontaneously coordinate their actions to produce new and cohesive performances, sometimes without appealing to any existent tune or standard? When doing so, does the group intentionally act as a set of individuals or perhaps as a single agent?  Understanding improvisation, moreover, is not only important for better understanding the cognitive processes of jazz musicians. Improvising is an essential part of life, from mundane and everyday decisions through highly-skilled and specialized activities. Having a better sense of what it entails, as well as what sorts of cognitive explanations are best able to capture fundamental features of improvisation, will have ramifications for a variety of areas.

In addition, I have research interests in topics such as joint action, social cognition, collective authorship, and artificial general intelligence, especially the Learning Intelligent Decision Agent (LIDA) cognitive model. I am also starting to conduct research in the ethics of AI and technology, which will be integrated into my PHIL 246: Ethics and Technology course.

Selected, Representative Publications:

• Ryan, K.J. Jr. (2023). Cognitive modeling, ecological psychology, and musical improvisation. Frontiers in Robotics and AI. https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2023. 1126033.
• Kronsted, C., Kugele, S., Neemeh, Z.A., Ryan, K.J. Jr., & Franklin, S. (2022). Embodied Intelligence: Smooth Coping in the Learning Intelligent Decision Agent (LIDA) Cognitive Architecture. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.846931.
• Schiavio, A., Ryan, K., Moran, N., van der Schyff, D., & Gallagher, S. (2022) By myself but not alone. Agency, creativity, and extended musical historicity. Journal of the Royal Musical Association.147(2), 533-556. doi: 10.1017/rma.2022.22.
• Ryan, K.J. Jr. & Gallagher, S. (2020) Between Ecological Psychology and Enactivism: Is There Resonance? Frontiers in Psychology. 11:1147. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01147.
• Ryan, K., Agrawal, P. & Franklin, S. (2020). The Pattern Theory of Self in Artificial General Intelligence: A Theoretical Framework for Modeling Self in Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architecture. Cognitive Systems Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsys.2019.09.018.
• Ryan, K. & Schiavio, A. (2019). Extended Musicking, Extended Mind, Extended Agency. Notes on the Third Wave. New Ideas in Psychology, Vol. 55: 8-17.
• Tollefsen, D. & Ryan, K. (2019). Group Cognition. In Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Psychology. 2nd Ed. (eds.) S.K. Robins, J. Symons, and P. Calvo, pg. 766-782, New York, NY: Routledge. (Invited Submission).

Special Issue Journal Editor

• Ryan, K. (2021). Enactivism: Theory and Performance, Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences.
• Ryan, K. (2014). Embodied Music Cognition, Empirical Musicology Review, Vol. 3-4