Embodied cognition
Embodied cognition is a theory that explores the relationship between the brain, the body, and the environment, positing that cognitive processes are significantly influenced by bodily experiences. Unlike traditional views that liken the brain to a computer processing inputs and outputs, embodied cognition suggests that the state of the body actively shapes how individuals think and perceive the world. This perspective emerged in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, challenging long-held beliefs that separated the mind and body in the study of consciousness.
Key to this theory is the notion that cognition is not solely a function of the brain; rather, the entire body plays a vital role. For instance, a person’s physical state, like hunger, can affect their perception of food, highlighting how bodily conditions can influence mental responses. Prominent thinkers, such as George Lakoff, have contributed to this field by examining how language, particularly metaphors rooted in physical experiences, reflects cognitive processes.
Research in neuroscience has further explored these ideas, with some studies suggesting that bodily movements can occur in anticipation of brain commands, raising debates about the extent of the body’s involvement in cognition. While embodied cognition has gained traction in educational contexts, particularly for kinesthetic learners, it also faces skepticism regarding the empirical evidence supporting its claims. Overall, embodied cognition represents a shift toward understanding the intricate interplay between our physical existence and mental functions.
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Embodied cognition
Embodied cognition is a theory about the brain and learning in neuroscience, philosophy, and psychology. This idea claims that the brain is affected by the body and the environment the body occupies. The idea of embodied cognition is much different from traditional ideas about cognition. Ideas about embodied cognition began to develop in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Embodied cognition has an agreed-upon general meaning, but people in different fields often have different specific definitions for it. In neuroscience, the phrase refers to the body being an active part of cognition, not merely something that informs the brain's cognitive processes.
Background
Embodied cognition is a theory about mental processes and how the body relates. Cognition is the mental action of gaining knowledge and thinking. Until the late twentieth century, many people thought of the brain as something like a computer. Certain inputs would result in certain outputs. Yet, the idea of embodied cognition challenged the idea of the mind being simply a computer where the same information would always yield the same result. Instead, scientists began to think that human embodiment, or the act of living inside a body that is exposed to the world, fundamentally shaped people's ways of thinking.
Until the late twentieth century, most philosophers and even scientists viewed the mind (or cognition) as separate from the body. They believed that the body was a secondary consideration when studying consciousness and cognition. Yet, during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, scientists and thinkers developed new ideas about the role of the body. Many people began to believe that the mind and the body are nearly equally important in the development of thoughts.
Overview
At its core, embodied cognition is the idea that the body influences the cognitive process. For many years, people have understood and believed that the body informs the mind. (Some historical philosophers believe that the body does not inform the mind at all. They believe that the mind itself is solely responsible for its thoughts.) One example of how the physical state affects the mind is that a person who is hungry is more likely to find food set in front of him appealing and appetizing. A person who just ate and is full is more likely to find the food unappealing. The same person could feel differently about the food, depending on the state of his body when the food is presented. While many scientists have studied these effects for many years, the more complex ideas surrounding embodied cognition have been studied only since the late twentieth century. These more complex ideas state that the body does not just inform the mind, but the body and its state can change the development of thoughts so much that the brain alone could not develop the same thoughts without the help of the body.
In the 1970s, Professor George Lakoff and others started studying language, metaphors, and thought. Lakoff was particularly interested in metaphors and the way metaphors exemplified how human cognition worked. For example, Lakoff and his fellow researchers were interested in metaphors such as "she had power over them" or "he is under their control." The metaphors contained words such as over and under, which are usually used to convey information about something in physical space. The metaphors using those words have meaning because people understand what over and under mean in a physical sense, and they can relay that meaning to a nonphysical situation.
Lakoff was also interested in the use of up, down, and similar words. A human concept of up is only possible because humans exist in bodies that are structured in particular ways. Lakoff and his research partner, Mark Johnson, published the book Metaphors We Live By in 1980. This book helped shape new ideas about language, metaphors, and cognition. Lakoff's work indicated that people think in metaphors, and they use metaphors to frame understanding. Since the metaphors people use are based on their experiences in their bodies, the work showed that cognition was affected by people's bodily experiences.
Other researchers published more theoretical work about embodied cognition, including Francisco Varela, Evan Thompson, and Eleanor Rosch's The Embodied Mind (1991) and Andy Clark's Being There: Putting Brain, Body, and World Together Again (1997). These works furthered the philosophical ideas about embodied cognition. Neuroscientists were also interested in the theory of embodied cognition, however, and they focused on neural function rather than on language or ways of thinking.
Neuroscientists began studying embodied cognition and further developed ideas about the theory. For neuroscientists, embodied cognition is the idea that humans use more than just their brains for cognition. Many neuroscientists have come to believe that the entire human body, not just the brain, is fundamental to cognition. For example, a neuroscientist may study how an athlete catches a ball that is flying through the air. Classical neuroscience and ideas about cognition would have theorized that the athlete's brain would take in the different factors in the surroundings (e.g., speed of the ball, speed of wind, etc.). Then, the athlete's brain would act in a similar way as a computer to calculate that information and inform the body where to stand to catch the ball. However, ideas about embodied cognition have changed the ways some neuroscientists believe this process works. In the early twenty-first century, some scientists have suggested that parts of the human body (e.g., legs and arms) might be moving before they receive the message from the brain to move. If that were true, these body parts are, themselves, somehow adding to the cognitive processes of the athlete.
This concept of embodied cognition is controversial in neuroscience. Some scientists are skeptical of claims that indicate the body moves without the command of the brain. People who doubt the validity of this idea about embodied cognition believe that the brain does actually command the body parts to move, but the commands happen extremely quickly. These neuroscientists do not doubt that the mind and body are deeply connected, but they doubt that the body is as involved in cognition as some other scientists believe.
In the twenty-first century, the concept of embodied cognition continued to be explored. In the field of neuroscience, studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) showed that motor planning regions in the brain were activated during tasks involving mental rotation. This evidence appeared to support the theory that cognitive activities involved embodied processes. Embodied cognition also found increasing applications in education, especially for individuals who learn best through physical avenues. Further study of embodied cognition sometimes placed it within broader frameworks, such as embodied, embedded, extended, and enactive cognition (4e's), which suggested that cognition required continuous interaction with the environment. Critics of the theory, however, continued to argue about the lack of concrete evidence regarding the influence of bodily processes on cognition.
Bibliography
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