Grasping language--a short story on embodiment.

  • Doreen Jirak
  • Mareike Menz
  • Giovanni Buccino
  • Anna M Borghi
  • Ferdinand Binkofski

Related Research units

Abstract

The new concept of embodied cognition theories has been enthusiastically studied by the cognitive sciences, by as well as such disparate disciplines as philosophy, anthropology, neuroscience, and robotics. Embodiment theory provides the framework for ongoing discussions on the linkage between "low" cognitive processes as perception and "high" cognition as language processing and comprehension, respectively. This review gives an overview along the lines of argumentation in the ongoing debate on the embodiment of language and employs an ALE meta-analysis to illustrate and weigh previous findings.The collected evidence on the somatotopic activation of motor areas, abstract and concrete word processing, as well as from reported patient and timing studies emphasizes the important role of sensorimotor areas in language processing and supports the hypothesis that the motor system is activated during language comprehension.

Bibliographical data

Original languageGerman
Article number3
ISSN1053-8100
Publication statusPublished - 2010
pubmed 20739194