Embodied Cognition

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Embodied cognition approaches, by contrast, Embodied Cognition stress the role of the natural and cultural envi- VLAD NAUMESCU AND NATALIE ronment in which cognitive processes take place SEBANZ and assume that our experiences within particular environments are fundamental in shaping Central European University, Hungary cognition. For example, across many cultures, time is conceptualized in terms of space, with past, present, and future represented along a There is no unified theoretical framework going front–back axis that has the self and the present bythenameof“embodiedcognition.”However, time at its center. However, the Yupno, an indige- various lines of thinking and avenues of empirical nousandgeographicallyisolatedgroupfrom research that can be subsumed under this heading Papua New Guinea, point downhill when they converge on the assumption that the body, with its areoutdoorstorefertothepastanduphillto sensorimotor abilities, is central to understanding refer to the future, regardless of their body ori- the nature of cognition. The core claim is that entation. The pointing directions do not follow “aspects of the agent’s body beyond the brain play a single axis; rather, they follow the shape of the asignificantcausalorphysicallyconstitutiverole landscape, revealing a strong influence of the in cognitive processing” (R. Wilson and Foglia nonlinear geography of the Upper Yupno valley 2011). In anthropology, phenomenological and on the Yupno’s representations of time (Nunez practice-oriented approaches have assigned the et al. 2012). body, with its capacity for sensation and action, a Importantly, the environment may shape central role. In cognitive science, this focus marks not only the content of mental representations a departure from the traditional view, which but also the way in which cognitive processes has drawn extensively on the mind-as-computer operate. A central idea in embodied cognition is metaphor and has characterized cognition in k thatcognitiveprocessescanbeoff-loadedonto k terms of abstract symbol manipulation. the environment to reduce cognitive workload. In the traditional cognitive science view, men- Thisisparticularlysalientinthecaseofmemory, tal representations are considered to be detached as in examples such as tying a knot to avoid from perceptual and motor systems as they do forgetting something or jotting down directions not have modality-specific features. For instance, in a notebook. Work on the cognitive processes “dog” is an arbitrary label for a representation that underlying memory has also shed light on how refers to various kinds of dog and does not retain groups of individuals rely on each other to encode any features of the dogs one has encountered. information and on how they recall information Furthermore, in the traditional view, mental or events from the past together. This has led processes operate on inputs of a symbolic nature to a new understanding of memory as socially and produce symbolically encoded outputs. What distributed among individuals and instrumen- happens on the perceptual side and the motor tally distributed between individuals and cultural side is not considered to be directly relevant, and tools. consequently the interaction between processes In a book that set the path for interdisci- of perception, action, and cognition has been plinary dialogue on the topic, Bloch (1998) used neglected. It is assumed that cognition can be the example of Zafimaniry ancestor houses in understood by focusing on processes occurring Madagascar and memories of the war with the within the brain and that these processes could be French to show how memory is stimulated and instantiated across systems that differ fundamen- projected onto spaces, objects, and people. The tally in the ways in which they acquire sensory spatialization of cognitive processes acknowl- information and act on it. edges the functional interaction between people’s

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mental abilities and the structure of the local from optic flow, the dynamic pattern of infor- environment in which they act and live. From mation that is generated as the agent is moving the medieval cathedrals of memory to the Kabyle toward it. The ecological approach is radically houses in Algeria described by Bourdieu, people embodied because it implies that perception have created and used built spaces to off-load and cognition cannot exist independently of an essential cultural information and structure the agent moving through the environment. The socialization of group members into their cul- concept of “affordance” further illustrates this tures. Such phenomena are not new in human tight link. Affordances are conceived of as action history, but increasingly sophisticated tech- possibilities that depend on the specific relation nologies afford more complex relationships and between an agent’s capabilities and the physical processes of off-loading. properties of objects. For example, the first step If cognitive processes rely heavily on the onastaircasemayaffordsteppingupwardforan environment in which agents do their think- adult but sitting for a small child. The concept of ing, a major goal for cognitive science is to affordance has been adapted to the social realm understand how the availability of particular to include the perception of others’ dispositions technologies shapes cognition (Clark 2008). and abilities and has been extended to situations Cognitive ethnographies have taken up this chal- where multiple agents together form a social unit. lenge to investigate the way cognitive processes Ithasalsobeenusedtodescribethecultural are embedded in complex environments and properties that objects or beings acquire through dynamic interactions that extend in time and ritual manipulation. These may activate specific space. For example, Hutchins’s (1995) work on cognitive mechanisms that lead to their becoming essentialized kinds, also endowed with potential distributed cognition analyzes complex tasks such agency in the social field, such as spirit stones or as the navigation of a ship or plane by looking at animals in sacrificial ceremonies. thedistributionandstorageofknowledgeamong Representationalist approaches in embod- k people and instruments. One advantage of this k ied cognition have also stressed the claim that approach is that it creates a situated understand- cognition is for action (M. Wilson 2002). For ing of cognition that is sensitive to the particular example, Daniel Wolpert (2011) has offered a natural and cultural context in which it unfolds. striking case in point to illustrate the idea that A further advantage is that, by considering the cognition evolved in order to control movement: nature of particular cognitive processes in rela- the sea squirt, a marine invertebrate animal, has tion to the surrounding context, we can gain a brain that allows it to move around and look a deeper understanding of the emergence and for a place to settle down. Once it has come to stabilization of cultural practices. restonasuitablespotonarock,itnevermoves Embodied approaches vary in the extent to again. The first thing it does is to consume its which they consider the environment to be a own brain. This provides a drastic illustration of constitutive part of the cognitive system, as the idea that cognitive processes not only support can be seen in debates on the relation between higher-level,abstractthinking(oratleastprimar- situated cognition, embedded cognition, and ily support it) but also are crucial for guiding our extended cognition (Clark 2008). While less actions. Focusing on the action-guiding function radical versions merely stress the fact that cog- of cognition also leads to a focus on the real-time nition is situated in a particular environment, constraints that arise in interactions with the more radical versions postulate that the cou- environment and with other agents (M. Wilson plings between agents and the environment are 2002). When we catch a ball, drive a car, or play so tight that a meaningful analysis must focus a piece on the piano, there is little time to think on their interaction. Theories of direct percep- andouractionsmustbeperformedundertight tion postulate that information emerges in the temporal constraints. This is especially salient dynamic spatiotemporal interaction between in joint-action contexts where multiple agents agents and their environment, rather than being coordinate their actions in time and space. stored in individual minds. For example, an Others’ actions are among the most important agent can directly perceive the size of an object events our perceptual system needs to make sense

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of. We need to understand and predict others’ observations also highlight the fact that verbal actions to learn from them, to coordinate with language only serves as a supplementary form of them, and to avoid conflict. Since the 1990s, communication in the context of practical skills research within an embodied cognition frame- teaching and learning. work has provided much evidence for the claim The focus on action that the embodied cogni- that observing actions triggers corresponding tion perspective provides has also led to increased motor representations, with mirror neurons interest in the processes underlying joint action: constituting a neural implementation of this the coordinated performance of multiple individ- functional principle (for a review, see Van der uals’ actions. Predicting others’ actions through Wel, Sebanz, and Knoblich 2015). There is also motor simulation is considered to be one of the considerable evidence to suggest that people’s mechanisms that allows interaction partners to own motor experience shapes how they perceive coordinate the timing of their actions in joint others’ actions. For example, professional basket- action, be it taking turns in a conversation, ball players are better at predicting the outcome playing a piano duet, or clinking glasses. Fur- of basketball shots than sports journalists who thermore, interaction partners adjust the ways have plenty of visual but less motor experience. in which they perform actions to make them as There is more activation in motor areas of ballet informativeandpredictableaspossible.These dancers’ brains when they watch ballet dancing findingsdemonstratetheimportanceofsensori- compared to capoeira, while capoeira dancers motor processes in coordination, complementing show more activation when watching movements work that has focused on the role of norms, they are familiar with. These findings are in line conventions, and commitment. Research on joint with and substantiate anthropological work that action also provides new impetus to the idea has stressed the role of shared motor experiences that we learn not only through observing others’ in creating and marking cultural practices. If actions but also by participating in joint activities. k action abilities shape perception, then there are The approaches reviewed so far focus on the k not only differences in how groups implement role of the environment and on the interplay of “techniques of the body” (Mauss [1950] 1979), perception and action during the online opera- following different traditions in their walking, tion of cognitive processes. Another key project swimming, or sleeping, but also systematic effects in embodied cognition has been to spell out how of group members’ ways of acting on their percep- stored conceptual information could be grounded tion of others’ actions. In particular, the number in sensorimotor experiences. Barsalou’s (2009) of deviations from predicted movement patterns perceptual symbols theory postulates that mental may serve as a signal of group membership. representations include information from multi- Close links between action and perception ple sensory modalities rather than being amodal also have implications for the transmission of and only arbitrarily related to their referents. skills, where learners aim to transcend the gap The basic idea is that neural states triggered between their own ways of acting and the actions by perceiving particular objects or events are demonstrated by their models or teachers. Marc- later partially reactivated through “simulations” hand’s (2010) ethnographic research among when accessing representations of these objects English woodworkers addresses the translation or events. For example, when we retrieve the from visual observation into physical practice, memory of a particular orange tree, the pattern stressing the role of motor-based understanding. of activation that was created by smelling its blos- In line with evidence that perceiving actions soms or plucking a fruit from it will be partially triggers corresponding motor representations, reactivated. As we encounter different exemplars Marchand proposes that observed activities of the over time, modal information is accumulated teacher are parsed into smaller elements that give and integrated into a distributed multimodal rise to proprioceptive information, enabling an system that represents the category as a whole. interpretation “from the body.” Learning consists The (partial) simulations of prior sensorimotor of ever-finer motor simulations of the observed experiences need not reach our consciousness, actions and of acquiring the timing and coordi- although we may rely on them more explicitly nation of multiple overlapping movements. Such when we engage in mental imagery. In contrast

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to concrete objects—such as an orange—it is less Culture; Situated Cognition; Interaction; wbiea1951 wbiea2025 obvious how such a simulationist account could Techniques of the Body; Skill wbiea2076 be applied to abstract concepts, such as democ- wbiea2097 wbiea2201 racy or peace. However, it has been suggested wbiea2259 that abstract concepts may be grounded in more wbiea2263 REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING wbiea2281 concrete ones (e.g., concepts about time or math- ematical concepts being represented in spatial Barsalou, Lawrence. 2009. “Simulation, Situated Con- terms) and that internal mental and emotional ceptualization, and Prediction.” Philosophical Trans- experiences may form part of the representations. actions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Towhat extent embodied cognition approaches 364 (1521): 1281–89. challenge or obliterate tenets of traditional cog- Bloch, Maurice. 1998. How We Think They Think: nitive science or anthropology requires further Anthropological Approaches to Cognition, Memory, exploration. The fact that there is no definite and Literacy. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. settlement in sight does not mean that our under- Clark, Andy. 2008. Supersizing the Mind: Embodiment, Action, and Cognitive Extension.NewYork:Oxford standing of cognition has not been progressing. University Press. On the contrary, the conglomeration of theories Hutchins, Edwin. 1995. Cognition in the Wild.Cam- and empirical findings related to embodied cog- bridge, MA: MIT Press. nition that has been growing rapidly has much to Marchand, Trevor H. J. 2010. “Embodied Cognition and offer to both fields. It has opened up black boxes Communication: Studies with British Fine Wood- of sociology and anthropology and challenged workers.” JournaloftheRoyalAnthropologicalInsti- cognitive scientists to reconsider what it is that tute (n.s.) 16 (Suppl. 1): 100–120. need to be explained. For example, an embodied, Mauss, Marcel. (1950) 1979. “Body Techniques.” In simulationistapproachhasledtoareassessment Sociology and Psychology: Essays, edited by Marcel of Bourdieu’s habitus as a dynamic mental schema Mauss, 95–123. London: Routledge. actualized through one’s constant engagement Nunez, Rafael, Kensy Cooperrider, D. Doan, and Jürg k Wassmann . 2012. “Contours of Time: Topographic k with the world. Embodied approaches have also Construals of Past, Present, and Future in the Yupno led to a pronounced shift in cognitive science Valley of Papua New Guinea.” Cognition 124 (1): from focusing on operations inside individual 25–35. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2012.03.007. minds to studying the interaction between pro- VanderWel,RobrechtP.R.D.,NSebanz,andG. cesses of perception, action, and thinking as Knoblich. 2015. “A Joint Action Perspective on they unfold in particular social environments. Embodiment.” In Foundations of Embodied Cogni- Anthropology and cognitive science endeavors tion,editedbyYannCoelloandMartinFischer, meet and have much to learn from each other 165–81. Oxford: Psychology Press. in their search for the mediating processes that Wilson, Margaret. 2002. “Six Views of Embodied Cog- connect cognitive capacities with their shaping of nition.” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review #9 (4): 625–36. and by environment and experience. Wilson, Robert, and Lucia Foglia. 2011. “Embodied Cognition.” In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, wbiea1446 < > SEE ALSO: DRAFT: Embodiment ;Mauss, edited by Edward N. Zalta. Accessed December wbiea1518 Marcel (1872–1950); Cognition and 4, 2016, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/embodied- wbiea1533 Communication; Cognitive Development; Social cognition. wbiea1545 wbiea1602 Memory; Mental Representations; Imitation, Wolpert, Daniel. 2011. “Daniel Wolpert: The Real Rea- wbiea1622 Social Learning, and Cultural Traditions; son for Brains.” YouTube,November3.Accessed wbiea1678 Technology; Bourdieu, Pierre (1930–2002); February 10, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch? wbiea1735 v=7s0CpRfyYp8. wbiea1739 Memory; Material Culture; Religion and wbiea1789 Embodiment; Cultural Transmission; Embodied wbiea1791 wbiea1882 Learning; Cognition; Mind; Habitus; Brain and wbiea1905

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ABSTRACT The term “embodied cognition” refers to a conglomerate of theories and research that share the assumption that the body and its sensorimotor abilities are central to understanding the nature of cognition. Different approaches stress the role of the natural and cultural environment in which cognitive processes take place, the action-guiding role of cognition, or the grounding of concepts in sensorimotor experiences. By combining a focus on the body and interactions with the environment with questions about cognitive mechanisms, embodied cognition promises a rapprochement between anthropology and cognitive science. This is reflected in research on the social and distributed nature of memory as well as in investigations into joint practices and the cultural transmission of skilled action. k k KEYWORDS action; body; cognition; cultural transmission; joint action; memory; perception; skill; social cognition