Embodied perspectives on concepts (e.g. Barsalou, 1999; Glenberg, 1997) emphasize that cognition is shaped by the physical properties of the world (i.e. “ grounded” ) in multiple ways (by simulations, or, occasionally, by bodily states); that our concepts are shaped by the physical constraints of our body (i.e. “ embodied” ); that cognitive processing strongly depends on current constraints and task demands (i.e. “ situated” ; see Pezzulo et al., 2013). Nevertheless not only the visual perception of an object, but also language processing elicits the involvement of the motor system. As words act as surrogates for more direct interactions with the environment (Glenberg, 1997), language processing recruits brain areas typically involved in perceiving objects and interacting with them. Across psychology, neuroscience and cognitive linguistics (see Bergen, 2005; Gibbs, 2003; Pecher and Zwaan, 2005), strong empirical evidence provides support for the view that language comprehension results in embodied representations2 (Gallese and Goldman, 1998; Zwaan, 2004; Glenberg and Kaschak, 2002), that is in “simulations”. The notion of“simulation” is still a topic of debate, but there is general agreement in understanding it as the activation of the same sensorimotor neural correlates3 involved when we previously interacted with the referent of the word, i.e. the actual object (e.g. “apple”), or we executed the specific action described by the word (e.g. “grasping”) (Gallese 2008; Gallese and Sinigaglia, 2011).
Embodiment and Language / Claudia Scorolli. - STAMPA. - (2014), pp. 127-138.
Embodiment and Language.
SCOROLLI, CLAUDIA
2014
Abstract
Embodied perspectives on concepts (e.g. Barsalou, 1999; Glenberg, 1997) emphasize that cognition is shaped by the physical properties of the world (i.e. “ grounded” ) in multiple ways (by simulations, or, occasionally, by bodily states); that our concepts are shaped by the physical constraints of our body (i.e. “ embodied” ); that cognitive processing strongly depends on current constraints and task demands (i.e. “ situated” ; see Pezzulo et al., 2013). Nevertheless not only the visual perception of an object, but also language processing elicits the involvement of the motor system. As words act as surrogates for more direct interactions with the environment (Glenberg, 1997), language processing recruits brain areas typically involved in perceiving objects and interacting with them. Across psychology, neuroscience and cognitive linguistics (see Bergen, 2005; Gibbs, 2003; Pecher and Zwaan, 2005), strong empirical evidence provides support for the view that language comprehension results in embodied representations2 (Gallese and Goldman, 1998; Zwaan, 2004; Glenberg and Kaschak, 2002), that is in “simulations”. The notion of“simulation” is still a topic of debate, but there is general agreement in understanding it as the activation of the same sensorimotor neural correlates3 involved when we previously interacted with the referent of the word, i.e. the actual object (e.g. “apple”), or we executed the specific action described by the word (e.g. “grasping”) (Gallese 2008; Gallese and Sinigaglia, 2011).I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.