Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 5, 2026

Visualization Method for Proprioceptive Drift on a 2D Plane Using Support Vector Machine
Published on: October 27, 2016
A critical look at the embodied cognition hypothesis and a new proposal for grounding conceptual content
Bradford Z Mahon1, Alfonso Caramazza
1Cognitive Neuropsychology Laboratory, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Mahon@fas.harvard.edu
Abstract:
Many studies have demonstrated that the sensory and motor systems are activated during conceptual processing. Such results have been interpreted as indicating that concepts, and important aspects of cognition more broadly, are embodied. That conclusion does not follow from the empirical evidence. The reason why is that the empirical evidence can equally be accommodated by a 'disembodied' view of conceptual representation that makes explicit assumptions about spreading activation between the conceptual and sensory and motor systems. At the same time, the strong form of the embodied cognition hypothesis is at variance with currently available neuropsychological evidence. We suggest a middle ground between the embodied and disembodied cognition hypotheses--grounding by interaction. This hypothesis combines the view that concepts are, at some level, 'abstract' and 'symbolic', with the idea that sensory and motor information may 'instantiate' online conceptual processing.
Related Concept Videos
Cognitivism
Previously dominated by behaviorism, which prioritized observable behaviors and largely ignored mental processes, psychology transformed in the 1950s. Cognitive psychologists argue that understanding how we think and process information is...
The Nativist Approach
Understanding Self-Concept
Reason and Intuition
Structuralism
Titchener's approach to structuralism was unique. He employed introspection, a method...
Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
This field emerged in the mid-20th century, following a period dominated by behaviorism, which...

