Embodied language in neuroscience and psychoanalysis

There have been relatively few discussions of systematic studies of language, including neuroscience studies, in the psychoanalytic literature. To address this dearth, a detailed review of research on embodied language in neuroscience and related disciplines is presented, after which their findings are considered in light of diverse views of language in psychoanalysis, specifically the models of the Boston Change Process Study Group, Wilma Bucci, Fonagy and Target, David Olds, and Hans Loewald. The juxtaposition of psychoanalytic models with the findings of research on embodied language shows that scientific studies can focus psychoanalytic understanding of verbal processes, and that integrations with neuroscience neither inherently threaten the traditional psychoanalytic focus on verbal meanings nor reduce the richness and complexity of psychoanalytic theory.