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A critical look at the embodied cognition hypothesis and a new proposal for grounding conceptual content

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Mahon, Bradford Z., Caramazza, Alfonso·2008·Journal of Physiology-Paris
DOI 10.1016/j.jphysparis.2008.03.004
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Abstract

Many studies have demonstrated that the sensory and motor systems are activated during conceptual processing. Such results have been interpreted as indicating that concepts, and important aspects of cognition more broadly, are embodied. That conclusion does not follow from the empirical evidence. The reason why is that the empirical evidence can equally be accommodated by a 'disembodied' view of conceptual representation that makes explicit assumptions about spreading activation between the conceptual and sensory and motor systems. At the same time, the strong form of the embodied cognition hypothesis is at variance with currently available neuropsychological evidence. We suggest a middle ground between the embodied and disembodied cognition hypotheses--grounding by interaction. This hypothesis combines the view that concepts are, at some level, 'abstract' and 'symbolic', with the idea that sensory and motor information may 'instantiate' online conceptual processing.

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Metadata

Authors
Mahon, B. Z., & Caramazza, A.
Venue
Journal of Physiology-Paris
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2008-01
Volume
102
Issue
1-3
Pages
59-70
ISSN
0928-4257 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.jphysparis.2008.03.004
OpenAlex
W2149544884
Cited by
1,377
References
9
FWCI
29.54
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
green
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)

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Mahon, B. Z., & Caramazza, A. (2008). A critical look at the embodied cognition hypothesis and a new proposal for grounding conceptual content. Journal of Physiology-Paris. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphysparis.2008.03.004

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