Grounding Cognition: The Role of Perception and Action in Memory, Language, and Thinking

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511499968

One of the key questions in cognitive psychology is how people represent knowledge about concepts such as football or love. Some researchers have proposed that concepts are represented in human memory by the sensorimotor systems that underlie interaction with the outside world. These theories represent developments in cognitive science to view cognition no longer in terms of abstract information processing, but in terms of perception and action. In other words, cognition is grounded in embodied experiences. Studies show that sensory perception and motor actions support understanding of words and object concepts. Moreover, even understanding of abstract and emotion concepts can be shown to rely on more concrete, embodied experiences. Finally, language itself can be shown to be grounded in sensorimotor processes. This book brings together theoretical arguments and empirical evidence from several key researchers in this field to support this framework.

Review of the hardback:'… the chapters of this book provide convincing evidence that higher cognitive processes draw heavily upon perceptual and motor knowledge … [it] allows readers to appreciate the diversity of ideas that fall under the embodied view of cognition …'

Source: Applied Cognitive Psychology

- Aa Reduce text
- Aa Enlarge text

View selected items
Save to my bookmarks
Export citations
Download PDF (zip)
Save to Kindle
Save to Dropbox
Save to Google Drive
Save content to
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to .

To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Please be advised that item(s) you selected are not available.
You are about to save
Your Kindle email address

Please provide your Kindle email.

@free.kindle.com @kindle.com (service fees apply)

By using this service, you agree that you will only keep content for personal use, and will not openly distribute them via Dropbox, Google Drive or other file sharing services

Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Contents
pp v-vi
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

List of Contributors
pp vii-viii
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

1 - Introduction to Grounding Cognition: The Role of Perception and Action in Memory, Language, and Thinking
pp 1-7
- By Diane Pecher, Assistant Professor Erasmus University Rotterdam (The Netherlands), Rolf A. Zwaan, Professor of Psychology Florida State University
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

2 - Object Concepts and Action
pp 8-34
- By Anna M. Borghi, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

3 - Constraints on Spatial Language Comprehension: Function and Geometry
pp 35-64
- By Laura A. Carlson, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA, Ryan Kenny, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

4 - Embodiment in Metaphorical Imagination
pp 65-92
- By Raymond W. Gibbs Jr., University of California, Santa Cruz, California, USA
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

5 - Passionate Thoughts: The Emotional Embodiment of Moral Concepts
pp 93-114
- By Jesse J. Prinz, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

6 - Grounding Language in Bodily States: The Case for Emotion
pp 115-128
- By Arthur M. Glenberg, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA, David Havas, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA, Raymond Becker, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA, Mike Rinck, Technical University of Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

7 - Situating Abstract Concepts
pp 129-163
- By Lawrence W. Barsalou, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Katja Wiemer-Hastings, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, USA
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

8 - Dynamicity, Fictivity, and Scanning: The Imaginative Basis of Logic and Linguistic Meaning
pp 164-197
- By Ronald W. Langacker, University of California, San Diego, California, USA
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

9 - The Emergence of Grammar from Perspective
pp 198-223
- By Brian MacWhinney, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

10 - Embodied Sentence Comprehension
pp 224-245
- By Rolf A. Zwaan, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA, Carol J. Madden, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

11 - On the Perceptual-Motor and Image-Schematic Infrastructure of Language
pp 246-281
- By Michael J. Spivey, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA, Daniel C. Richardson, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA, Monica Gonzalez-Marquez, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

12 - Connecting Concepts to Each Other and the World
pp 282-314
- By Robert L. Goldstone, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA, Ying Feng, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA, Brian J. Rogosky, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Author Index
pp 315-321
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Subject Index
pp 322-326
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Total number of HTML views: 0

Total number of PDF views: 0 *

Loading metrics...

Total views: 0 *

Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

Why this information is here

This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

Accessibility Information

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.

Grounding Cognition

The Role of Perception and Action in Memory, Language, and Thinking

This Book has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by Crossref.

Book description

Reviews

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv

Contents
pp v-vi

List of Contributors
pp vii-viii

1 - Introduction to Grounding Cognition: The Role of Perception and Action in Memory, Language, and Thinking
pp 1-7

2 - Object Concepts and Action
pp 8-34

3 - Constraints on Spatial Language Comprehension: Function and Geometry
pp 35-64

4 - Embodiment in Metaphorical Imagination
pp 65-92

5 - Passionate Thoughts: The Emotional Embodiment of Moral Concepts
pp 93-114

6 - Grounding Language in Bodily States: The Case for Emotion
pp 115-128

7 - Situating Abstract Concepts
pp 129-163

8 - Dynamicity, Fictivity, and Scanning: The Imaginative Basis of Logic and Linguistic Meaning
pp 164-197

9 - The Emergence of Grammar from Perspective
pp 198-223

10 - Embodied Sentence Comprehension
pp 224-245

11 - On the Perceptual-Motor and Image-Schematic Infrastructure of Language
pp 246-281

12 - Connecting Concepts to Each Other and the World
pp 282-314

Author Index
pp 315-321

Subject Index
pp 322-326

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Book summary page views

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

Accessibility Information

Grounding Cognition

The Role of Perception and Action in Memory, Language, and Thinking

Book description

Reviews

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Save Search

Contents

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Book summary page views

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

Accessibility Information