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Grounding meaning in experience: A broad perspective on embodied language.
Giovanni Buccino1, Ivan Colagè2, Nicola Gobbi3
1Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, University "Magna Graecia" of Catanzaro, Viale Salvatore Venuta, 88100, Germaneto, Italy.
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
|August 2, 2016
Summary
This study reveals that brain regions for sensory, motor, and emotional experiences play a causal role in word meaning, supporting an embodied view of language. Shared experiences ground common linguistic meanings within communities.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Linguistics
- Philosophy of Language
Background:
- Understanding the neural basis of linguistic meaning is crucial for cognitive science.
- Current theories debate whether meaning is abstract or grounded in embodied experiences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review neuroscientific evidence supporting an embodied and internalist view of linguistic meaning.
- To explore how sensory, motor, and emotional brain systems contribute to word meaning.
- To address the challenge abstract concepts pose to embodied theories of language.
Main Methods:
- Review of behavioral, neurophysiological, and neuroimaging studies.
- Analysis of data related to concrete and abstract word processing.
- Integration of findings with philosophical and linguistic theories of meaning.
Main Results:
- Evidence supports a causal role for sensory, motor, and emotional brain areas in attributing meaning to words.
- Findings align with an embodied and internalist conception of linguistic meaning.
- The role of embodiment in grounding shared meanings across a linguistic community is highlighted.
Conclusions:
- Embodied experiences in sensory, motor, and emotional systems are fundamental to linguistic meaning.
- Shared experiential commonalities established by embodiment ground shared meanings.
- The embodied approach offers a robust framework for understanding linguistic meaning, even for abstract concepts.
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