Embodied Cognition Flashcards
Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1962)
Embodiment has a double sense:
1. The body as living
2. The body as the experiential structure or
context of cognition
embodiment and social psyc
The words ‘see’, ‘touch’ and ‘hear’ demonstrate the
extent to which social interactions are bodily
In other words – we ‘think’ in a ‘bodily’ way
Weiss (1999, p5) Beyond Sakr:
“the experience of being embodied is never a
private affair, but is always mediated by our
continual interactions with other human and
nonhuman bodies”
Csordas (2008)
Our existence in relation to others – our
inter-subjectivity – is something tangible and
bodily
Descartes & Dualism:
Dualism is the position that mind and
body are in some categorical way
separate from each other – body is
physical & mind is non-physical
Thus, mind stuff (cognition) can be separated from
the body stuff
Descartes & Dualism & Cognition
Classical cognitive science was based on
Functionalism and focused on ‘abstract’
computation – amodal
Functionalism
mental states and concepts are
identified by what they do rather than by what they
are made of e.g. a key)
amodel models of thought
thoughts & feelings
reside in a cognitive system separate from
perceptual processes and bodily states
Barsalou, (1999, 2007) disagrees
- Cognition is modal / grounded / embodied – not
separate - Cognition is inherently grounded in our
experience with the mind, body and world - Consequently cognition is as directly connected
to the brain’s modal systems for perception,
action and introspection
Implication of Barsalou
There is dense and continuous flow of information
between mind and the world (body and wider
context)
In this sense the environment (body and wider
context) is part of the cognitive system
We are embodied thinkers
Varela et al (1999)
among the first to
postulate the ‘embodied mind’ where both the
environment and first person experience are
aspects of embodiment
EC as Simulation - Barsalou 1999
- During perceptual experience association areas in
the brain capture bottom-up sensorimotor
patterns - Later, - during the use of perceptual symbols -
association areas activate some of the same
sensorimotor areas in a top-down manner
From this perspective the meaning of symbols
(semantics) emerge from the sensorimotor
simulation of relevant systems
EC as Simulation - Soylu 2014
thinking involves ‘re-enactments’
of past physical experience
Implications of EC as Simulation
- Our thinking in the present moment is partly
influenced by ‘re-enactments’ that are provoked
by similar past physical experience - Example – before getting on a bicycle we are
mentally simulating what the act involves - This tendency to auto-simulate also provides
Evidence: EC as ‘Simulation’
♦ Strack et al (1988)
Claimed that funniness ratings
were higher ‘pen in teeth’
Pen between their teeth - induces a smile
Pen in lips – induces a frown
Thus, the bodily (induced smile/frown) has an effect
on the cognitive (perceived funniness)
