What is embodied cognition ?

A theory of cognition based on embodied cognition, is a theory that assume that cognition and the physical body are embedded and depended upon the other to work. In embodied cognition it is commonly assumed that cognition is developed through physical interaction with the external world (here the internal world is to be considered the mind). This creates several special consideration that should be taken into account, especially when talking about human cognitive development.

Ackerman et al (2010) made a study that showed how tactile information affected the way humans speak and think. In their study they conducted interviews with test subjects, that during the interview had to hold hard or soft objects. The result showed that when holding a hard object your views and the words you were using became harsher. While holding a soft object made a test subject have softer words and views. This shows a clear relation between the physical body and the mind among the test subjects.

The world and words
The theory goes that, when learning words like soft and hard, as well as other abstract harsh or soft words, the human mind must also create an understanding of physical properties such as soft and hard. There is a interaction between the knowledge of the tactile sensation of the physical properties of an object and the abstract word for these tactile feelings. They develop mutually and dependent of the other. 

In Helen Kellers self biography there is a scene where her assistant help her to feel the tactile sensation of water while at the same time writing the word water in Kellers hand. What this does to Keller is creating a new understanding for the word water. 

"Before this experience Helen was able to use symbols, say, to ask for water by spelling out "w-a-t-e-r." In this she was much like the behaviorist's animal or the computer scientist's Turing machine. But it was only with this step via perception into semantics, to understanding that the word meant water, that "the mystery of language" was revealed to her." (Barwise 1989, p. 6)

As we can see, there is a difference between  between knowing a word, and understanding a word. As Ackermans study propose there is a reasonable assumption to believe that humans learn this through physical interaction throughout their childhood and this gives rise to the obvious correlation between what a human is holding in her hand and what her views are.

Knowledge like this can be applied to understanding human development. For instance, how can a child develop without feeling, seeing, smelling, tasting or hearing the world? Can a child learn what a hard object is without ever touching it? What Ackerman studies implies, and most theories based on embodied cognition, is that humans needs to interact with the world in other to develop. It is important for a human to interact with the world in different ways in order to learn about her surroundings. This explains why playing should be considered learning for a child, and why it is important for a child to play in order to learn about its surroundings.

This is of great importance for theories of embodied cognition. The assumption that human cognition exists and develops through a interaction between the mind and body.


References:
Ackerman J.M., Nocera C.C., Bargh J.A. (2010) Incidental Haptic Sensations Influence Social Judgments and Decisions. Science, 328, 1712-1715.
Barwise, Jon. The Situation in Logic. Stanford, CA: Center for the Study of Language and Information, 1989. Print.