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Related Experiment Videos

The amodal brain and the offloading hypothesis.

Edouard Machery¹

¹History and Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. machery@pitt.edu.

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

|June 14, 2016

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Concepts are abstract, not tied to sensory input, challenging prior theories. This research reinterprets evidence, suggesting concepts are amodal, not grounded in sensory experiences.

Keywords:

Concepts and categories Semantics

Related Experiment Videos

Area of Science:

Cognitive Science
Philosophy of Mind
Psychology

Background:

The nature of concepts is a central debate in cognitive science.
Neo-empiricist theories propose concepts are grounded in sensory and motor experiences.
Previous evidence was interpreted to support sensorimotor grounding of concepts.

Purpose of the Study:

To argue that concepts are amodal.
To provide a novel interpretation of evidence previously used to support neo-empiricist theories.
To challenge the sensorimotor theory of concepts.

Main Methods:

Reinterpretation of existing empirical evidence.
Theoretical analysis of cognitive science literature.
Argumentation based on a growing body of evidence.

Main Results:

A growing body of evidence supports the amodal nature of concepts.
The offloading hypothesis offers an alternative explanation for previously cited evidence.
Evidence supporting neo-empiricism can be reinterpreted in favor of amodal concepts.

Conclusions:

Concepts are fundamentally amodal, independent of specific sensory modalities.
The offloading hypothesis provides a parsimonious explanation for the "grounding" evidence.
Amodal theories of concepts are better supported by the current evidence base.