How the body shapes knowledge : empirical support for embodied cognition / Rebecca Fincher-Kiefer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fincher-Kiefer, Rebecca, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cognitive psychology.

Psychology--methods.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Medical Subjects:

Psychology--methods.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 195 pages)

Other Title:

APA PsycBOOKS.

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : American Psychological Association, 2019.

System Details:

data file

Summary:

"If you are leaning backwards in your chair, are you more likely to think about the past than the future? When you say that someone "leaves me cold," do you literally feel cold? What role does the body play in our perceptions of the world? Is the mind calculating machine, or are our thoughts and emotions "grounded" in specific, felt, bodily experience?<BR /> <BR /> Questions like these have long driven research in embodied cognition, a theory of mental functioning that has gained increasing prominence in recent decades. This book explores embodied cognition from an experimental psychology perspective. Author Rebecca-Fincher Kiefer examines a wealth of evidence, including behavioral studies supported by neuroscientific findings, that suggest that our knowledge of the world is represented, or grounded, in the neural pathways that were used when we initially experienced those concepts. A "reuse" of these same neural pathways, according to embodiment theory, is therefore what constitutes thinking.<BR /> <BR /> With compelling descriptions and an investigative spirit, this book is essential reading for graduate and undergraduate students, and anyone seeking to understand the past, present, and future of human cognition.<BR />"-- Provided by publisher.

"This book explores embodied cognition from an experimental psychology perspective. Rebecca-Fincher Kiefer examines a wealth of evidence, including behavioral studies supported by neuroscientific findings, that suggest that our knowledge of the world is represented, or grounded, in the neural pathways that were used when we initially experienced those concepts. A "reuse" of these same neural pathways, according to embodiment theory, is therefore what constitutes thinking. This book is essential reading for graduate and undergraduate students, and anyone seeking to understand the past, present, and future of human cognition"-- Provided by publisher.

"This book explores embodied cognition from an experimental psychology perspective. It takes a three-pronged approach to organizing and synthesizing the extensive experimental results concerning the theory of embodiment. These three approaches are represented by Arthur Glenberg's; Lawrence Barsalou's; and Lakoff and Johnson's Metaphors. The book consists of nine chapters. Chapter one provides introduction about the overview of the book and its subsequent chapters. Chapters two through five presents material that supports the role of the body in different cognitive processes--perception of distance, perception of size--but also how our bodies affect our sense of control, power, even judgments about free will and includes a discussion of how culture may mediate some of these judgments. Chapters six and seven address how empirical results can demonstrate that sensorimotor simulation is the mechanism that provides meaning. Evidence will include such research as that demonstrating that emotional facial responses are simulations of others' emotional reactions even in the absence of motoric mimicry. Finally, in Chapter eight explores how language, specifically metaphor, reflects the grounding of meaning. The book concludes with chapter nine that addresses the current status of embodiment and attempts to simplify the complex reactions to the theory. In the end, it will be left to experimental cognitive psychologists, cognitive neuroscientists, and cognitive scientists to continue with the empirical investigations and modeling of cognitive processes to determine if the theory of embodiment will in fact be the paradigm shift that unifiesfies psychology as a discipline."--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Contents:

An introduction to the theory of embodied cognition

The body's role in perception

The body's role in social and emotional judgments

The body's role in higher order cognition

The body's role in language comprehension

The role of simulation in cognitive judgments

The role of simulation in emotion

The role of metaphor in the representation of abstract concepts

Reactions to the theory of embodied cognition

References

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Electronic reproduction. Washington, D.C. : American Psychological Association, 2019.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Online version: How the body shapes knowledge

ISBN:

9781433829604

1433829606

9781433830846

1433830841

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.