Grounded Cognition

According to theories of embodied cognition, language comprehenders simulate sensorimotor experiences to represent the meaning of what they read. Previous studies have shown that picture recognition is better if the object in the picture matches the orientation or shape implied by a preceding sentence. In order to test whether strategic imagery may explain previous findings, language comprehenders first read a list of sentences in which objects were mentioned. Only once the complete list had been read was recognition memory tested with pictures. Recognition performance was better if the orientation or shape of the object matched that implied by the sentence, both immediately after reading the complete list of sentences and after a 45-min delay. These results suggest that previously found match effects were not due to strategic imagery and show that details of sensorimotor simulations are retained over longer periods.

In the cognitive sciences, interoception, i.e. the perception of one's own internal bodily processes (e.g. heartbeat, digestion) has been thoroughly explored. In the social sciences, instead, there is still a lack of theories explaining how cultures shape the way we listen to our bodies. Fyssen Foundation enabled a cross-disciplinary research in anthropology, cognitive sciences and technology studies, conducted at Northwestern University. This research integrates multiple datasets, spanning from an ethnography of demonic possession in Nicaragua to an ongoing inquiry on medically unexplained symptoms in the US. Far from being exclusively a physiological matter, interoception is at the core of the formation of shared representations. This research bridges the gap between the microlevel of the cognition of inner sensations (1) and the macrolevel of the formation of beliefs and shared representations that we call "culture" (2).

Evaluative concepts qualify as abstract because they seem to go beyond what is given in experience. This is especially clear in the case of moral concepts. Justice, for example, has no fixed appearance. Less obviously, aesthetic concepts may also qualify as abstract. The very same sensory input can be regarded as beautiful by one person and ugly by another. Artistic success can also transcend sensory accessible features. Here we focus on moral badness and aesthetic goodness and argue that both can be grounded in emotional responses. Emotions, in turn, are grounded in bodily perceptions, which correspond to action tendencies. When we conceptualize something as good or bad (whether in the moral or aesthetic domain) we experience our bodily responses to that thing. The moral and aesthetic domain are distinguished by the emotions that they involve.

Many categories in the world have perceptual qualities that allow us to recognize and interact with them. We recognize apples by their shape and color, and when we eat an apple we recognize the feel in our hand, the texture of skin and flesh when we bite, and the taste and smell of the fruit. But what about the categories in our minds? Do they also have perceptual qualities, and if they do, to what extent do we use these perceptual qualities to categorize, make inferences and predictions, and, in short, to think? This chapter discusses some recent theories that have proposed that the mental representation of categories shares processing mechanisms with perception and action.

How we understand figurative language is an intensively and extensively researched field, which yielded many a contradictory result. In this paper, I aim at getting to the bottom of these inconsistencies. To accomplish that, I am going to summarise some of the most important findings which emerged from this field of research and resulted in various theories on non-literal language processing.

"Holding warm feelings toward someone" and "giving someone the cold shoulder" indicate different levels of social proximity. In this article, we show effects of temperature that go beyond these metaphors people live by. In three experiments, warmer conditions, compared with colder conditions, induced (a) greater social proximity, (b) use of more concrete language, and (c) a more relational focus. Different temperature conditions were created by either handing participants warm or cold beverages (Experiment 1) or placing them in comfortable warm or cold ambient conditions (Experiments 2 and 3). These studies corroborate recent findings in the field of grounded cognition revealing that concrete experiences ground abstract concepts with which they are coexperienced. Our studies show a systemic interdependence among language, perception, and social proximity: Environmentally induced conditions shape not only language use, but also the perception and construal of social relationships.

This article examines some key outcomes of researches on the human brain related to language learning in particular; and, then it highlights the role using literary texts can play, while employed as stimuli, for achieving success in the field of EFL. To narrow down further, the aim of this paper is to propose: by implementing literature-based course materials in different teaching methods like Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), Task-based language teaching (TBLT)and Cooperative learning (CL), EFL teachers can actually help their learners to learn the language more effectively, as it is more compatible with their brain functions.

In the last decade many researchers have obtained evidence for the idea that cognition shares processing mechanisms with perception and action. Most of the evidence supporting the grounded cognition framework focused on representations of concrete concepts, which leaves open the question how abstract concepts are grounded in sensory-motor processing. One promising idea is that people simulate concrete situations and introspective experiences to represent abstract concepts [Barsalou, L. W., & Wiemer-Hastings, K. (2005). Situating abstract concepts. In D. Pecher, & R. A. Zwaan (Eds.), Grounding cognition: The role of perception and action in memory, language, and thinking (pp. 129–163). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.], although this has not yet been investigated a lot. A second idea, which more researchers have investigated, is that people use metaphorical mappings from concrete to abstract concepts [Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: Chicago University Press.]. According to this conceptual metaphor theory, image schemas structure and provide sensory-motor grounding for abstract concepts. Although there is evidence that people automatically activate image schemas when they process abstract concepts, we argue that situations are also needed to fully represent meaning.

This thesis investigates how individuals understand so-called placement events through their native (L1) or second (L2) language. Placement events are events where an agent moves an object to a certain location, as in: He puts the book on the shelf. The key motivation to study this topic is as follows. Actions of “putting” and “taking” are an ubiquitous part of everyday human experience and “putting” and “taking” verbs are among the most frequent and earliest learned verbs in a language. However, speakers of different languages employ different kind of verbs to describe placement events (Kopecka & Narasimhan, 2012). Drawing on the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (Whorf, 1956), this leads one to wonder whether such cross linguistic differences affect how L1 speakers of different languages understand placement events. In extension, an interesting question is whether changes in an individual ́s language system - by learning an L2 – can affect how s/he understands placement events.

Approximately 360 participants participated in the studies in this thesis: 60 L1 speakers of German, 60 L1 speakers of Spanish, 120 German learners of L2 Spanish and 120 Spanish learners of L2 German. The L2 learners were learning their L2 in a foreign language context (e.g. German learners of L2 Spanish in Germany). These adult L2 learners acquired the L2 after the age of 12 or post-puberty.

The aim of this thesis was to advance theories on language and perception. Therefore, we studied cross linguistic differences in the expression of placement events from three major theoretical perspectives on language and perception. Results are reported in three separate research papers. First, we studied placement events in light of the Sapir-Whorf (Whorf, 1956) and the Thinking-for-Speaking (Slobin, 1996) hypotheses. In particular, we investigated whether cross linguistic differences affect how individuals categorize (Paper 1) and memorize (Paper 2) aspects within placement events. We presented them with pictures depicting placement events (Paper 1) or sentences describing placement events followed by depicted placement events (Paper 2) and investigated whether language affected their perception of object orientation and gender of agents. In Paper 1, we investigated L1 German and L1 Spanish speakers. In Paper 2, we compared Spanish learners of L2 German and German learners of L2 Spanish with L1 German and Spanish control speakers.

The results of these studies show the following. In Paper 1, we found that in a context with no overt language use, cross linguistic differences did not affect how speakers categorize object orientation or gender of agents. Moreover, this study showed that although cross linguistic differences between languages exist, speakers may employ alternative linguistic strategies that result in similar descriptions of object orientation and gender of agents across languages. In Paper 2, we found that language affected perception of object orientation. We found that L1 German speakers had better recognition memory for object orientation than L1 Spanish speakers. When Spaniards learned L2 German and performed the task in German, their recognition memory for object orientation improved and was as good as that of L1 German speakers. When Germans learned L2 Spanish and performed the task in Spanish, their recognition memory of object orientation was similar to L1 Spanish speakers ́ memory. We found no effects for gender of agents.

Second, we examined placement events from a grounded cognition perspective (Paper 3). In particular, we investigated whether L1 and L2 speakers make “mental simulations” during language comprehension (Barsalou, 1999). We presented them with sentences describing placement events, which contained language-specific forms (verbs, suffixes) and investigated whether this led them to simulate object orientation and size as shown by so-called “match effects”. In Paper 3, we compared Spanish learners of L2 German and German learners of L2 Spanish with L1 German and Spanish control speakers.

The results of this study show the following. We found no support that L2 readers simulate object orientation through German placement verbs. However, we did find support that L2 readers of Spanish augmentative suffixes make simulations of object size. In addition, we found that L2 readers process meaning slower than L1 readers.

Third, we investigated whether L2 learner differences affected (our measures of) their behavior in the studies reported in Paper 2 and 3. In particular, we investigated the role of L2 proficiency and the related factors L2 exposure and motivation. In Paper 2 we found that differences in general L2 proficiency did not cause differences in L2 learners ́ memory. In Paper 3, we found that differences in specific L2 proficiency affected how fast L2 learners processed meaning. In addition, we found that the amount of L2 exposure affected how fast L2 German learners processed meaning.

In its entirety, this thesis contributes to theoretical advance in the following ways. We have expanded on three theoretical perspectives on language and perception, investigating a single domain of investigation, which is placement. First of all, our research provided evidence against the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, but in favor of TFS effects on L1 and L2 speakers ́ memory. Moreover, we found that L2 learners ́ memory may differ from that of L1 speakers, irrespective of L2 proficiency. Thus, TFS effects in L1 and L2 speakers’ memory seems an interesting topic for further investigation. Second, we found partial evidence in favor of theory on mental simulation in L1 speakers and L2 learners. On the one hand, this questions whether humans routinely make mental simulations for all types of object properties. On the other hand, there are several accounts that explain why simulation effects may be found or not. Thus, further research is needed to determine if and when simulation occurs. Third, we found that general L2 proficiency did not affect memory performance in Paper 2. Specific measures of L2 proficiency did reveal RT differences in L2 learner ́ behavior in Paper 3. Amount of L2 exposure only reliably affected L2 German learners’ speed of reaction in Paper 3, but not L2 Spanish learners’ speed of reaction. There are two ways to interpret these results. First, it may be that in relatively simple language tasks, such as reading sentences, general language background differences do not affect L2 learners’ behavior, thus no effects exist. Second, it may be that (our) measures of general L2 proficiency, L2 exposure and motivation are not fine-grained enough to convincingly reveal differences in L2 sentence comprehension.

All in all, we have shown that despite the universality of actions of placement, cross linguistic differences may indeed affect how L1 speakers understand placement events if critical language is present. Moreover, how L2 speakers understand placement events may change following their L2. General L2 learner differences do not convincingly seem to affect speed of meaning processing or memory accuracy. Only specific measures of L2 proficiency revealed differences in meaning processing. Therefore, the following lines of research seem more promising in making theoretical advance. First, more research comparing L1 and L2 speakers’ TFS and its effect on memory is needed. Second, mental simulation theory needs to be further evaluated. In this quest, different conceptual domains (gender and size) and novel experimental tasks (such as the memory task employed in Paper 2) should be considered to determine whether and how effects of language on perception structurally occur.

"The conceptual metaphor theory states that abstract concepts are represented by image schemas from concrete domains. In the present study we investigated the mapping for SIMILARITY IS CLOSENESS using tasks with nonlinguistic materials. In Experiments 1 and 2 participants decided whether two squares were similar or dissimilar in colour. The spatial distance between the squares was varied. Performance to similar colours was better at shorter distances, whereas performance to dissimilar colours was better at longer distances. In Experiments 3 and 4 participants made distance decisions to similar and dissimilar colours squares. Performance was not affected by similarity. These results show that metaphorical mappings can be found even beyond the context of linguistic metaphors and that the mapping between SIMILARITY and CLOSENESS is
asymmetrical."

The recent outburst of interest in cognitive developmental robotics is fueled by the ambition to propose ecologically plausible mechanisms of how, among other things, a learning agent/robot could ground linguistic meanings in its sensorimotor behavior. Along this stream, we propose a model that allows the simulated iCub robot to learn the meanings of actions (point, touch, and push) oriented toward objects in robot’s peripersonal space. In our experiments, the iCub learns to execute motor actions and comment on them. Architecturally, the model is composed of three neural-network-based modules that are trained in different ways. The first module, a two-layer perceptron, is trained by back-propagation to attend to the target position in the visual scene, given the low-level visual information and the feature-based target information. The second module, having the form of an actor-critic architecture, is the most distinguishing part of our model, and is trained by a continuous version of reinforcement learning to execute actions as sequences, based on a linguistic command. The third module, an echo-state network, is trained to provide the linguistic description of the executed actions. The trained model generalizes well in case of novel action-target combinations with randomized initial arm positions. It can also promptly adapt its behavior if the action/target suddenly changes during motor execution.

When taking a self-portrait or “selfie” to display in an online dating profile, individuals may intuitively manipulate the vertical camera angle to embody how they want to be perceived by the opposite sex. Concepts from evolutionary psychology and grounded cognition suggest that this manipulation can provide cues of physical height and impressions of power to the viewer which are qualities found to influence mate-selection. We predicted that men would orient selfies more often from below to appear taller (i.e., more powerful) than the viewer, and women, from an above perspective to appear shorter (i.e., less powerful). A content analysis was conducted which coded the vertical orientation of 557 selfies from profile pictures on the popular mobile dating application, Tinder. In general, selfies were commonly used by both men (54%) and women (90%). Consistent with our predictions, a gender difference emerged; men's selfies were angled significantly more often from below, whereas women's were angled more often from above. Our findings suggest that selfies presented in a mate-attraction context are intuitively or perhaps consciously selected to adhere to ideal mate qualities. Further discussion proposes that biological or individual differences may also facilitate vertical compositions of selfies.

ABSTRACT: I argue that embodied cognition research exhibits a striking imbalance of experimental progress and theoretical clarification. In particular, the concept of grounding—now one of the theoretical cornerstones of the embodied cognition movement—remains unilluminated. A major lacuna of Pecher & Zwaan's (2005) volume, 'Grounding Cognition', as a whole, is that it fails to articulate just what the grounding relation actually is. Subsequently, this volume exemplifies the need for a new direction in embodied cognition. Now more than ever, concepts like EMBODIMENT and GROUNDING are in dire need of some plain old-fashioned conceptual analysis.

Being ostracized or excluded, even briefly and by strangers, is painful and threatens fundamental needs. Recent work by Zhong and Leonardelli (2008) found that excluded individuals perceive the room as cooler and that they desire warmer drinks. A perspective that many rely on in embodiment is the theoretical idea that people use metaphorical associations to understand social exclusion (see Landau, Meier, & Keefer, 2010). We suggest that people feel colder because they are colder. The results strongly support the idea that more complex metaphorical understandings of social relations are scaffolded onto literal changes in bodily temperature: Being excluded in an online ball tossing game leads to lower finger temperatures (Study 1), while negative affect typically experienced after such social exclusion is alleviated after holding a cup of warm tea (Study 2). The authors discuss further implications for the interaction between body and social relations specifically, and for basic and cognitive systems in general.

In this paper, we argue that several recent 'wide' perspectives on cognition (embodied, embedded, extended, enactive, and distributed) are only partially relevant to the study of cognition. While these wide accounts override traditional methodological individualism, the study of cognition has already progressed beyond these proposed perspectives toward building integrated explanations of the mechanisms involved, including not only internal submechanisms but also interactions with others, groups, cognitive artifacts, and their environment. Wide perspectives are essentially research heuristics for building mechanistic explanations. The claim is substantiated with reference to recent developments in the study of " mindreading " and debates on emotions. We argue that the current practice in cognitive (neuro)science has undergone, in effect, a silent mechanistic revolution, and has turned from initial binary oppositions and abstract proposals toward the integration of w...

Does physical warmth lead to caring and sharing? Research suggests that it does; physically warm versus cold conditions induce pro-social behaviors and cognitions. Importantly, earlier research has not traced the developmental origins of the association between physical warmth and affection. The association between physical warmth and sharing may be captured in specific cognitive models of close social relations, often referred to as attachment styles. In line with this notion and using a dictator game set-up, the current study demonstrates that children who relate to their friends in the manner of a secure attachment style are more generous toward their peers in warm as compared to cold conditions. This effect was absent for children who relate to friends in the manner of an insecure attachment style, but, notably, these children not just always shared less: They allocated more stickers to a friend than to a stranger. These findings provide an important first step to understand how fundamental embodied relations develop early in life. We discuss broader implications for grounded cognition and person perception.

The research seeks to further understand the metaphor between social exclusion and coldness. In study 1, participants primed with social exclusion estimated that food contains more calories, compared with participants in the control condition, while in study 2, participants categorized words presented on a computer screen. However, social exclusion words were categorized more quickly in the cold font than in the hot font. These findings are consistent with the embodied cognition theory. The research demonstrates that the priming of social exclusion induces an actual feeling of coldness, and the connection between social exclusion and physical coldness is automatic and unconscious.

Multilevel Grounding develops a new approach to musical meaning—Multilevel-Grounded Semantics, addressing the well- known paradox that music seems full of meaning yet there is little consensus among listeners on what exactly it is that this meaning communicates. Offering a balance between formalist and referentialist approaches, Antović ’s theory proposes that musical signifi cation emerges from constant cross- space mappings between the musical structure and the listener’s experience. The process is crucially constrained by several hierarchical and partly recursive levels of grounding: perceptual, schematically embodied, affective, conceptual, culturally elaborated, and individual. These levels are responsible for a range of phenomena that increase in complexity, from involuntary bodily responses to the manipulation of musical expectancies over cross- modal inferences relating the musical parameters to spatial domains to full- fl edged experiential narratives accompanying the music, as in opera or fi lm scoring. The book combines cutting edge insights from the fi elds of philosophy of mind, cognitive science, semiotics, linguistics, and music cognition, using a broad range of examples from traditional, classical, and popular world musics, into a theoretical system that shows how the focus on the grounding problem may help researchers convincingly resolve the apparent ungraspability of musical semantics.

Thinking about the abstract concept power may automatically activate the spatial up-down image schema (powerful up; powerless down) and consequently direct spatial attention to the image schema-congruent location. Participants indicated whether a word represented a powerful or powerless person (e.g ‘king’ or ‘servant’). Following each decision, they identified a target at the top or bottom of the visual field. In Experiment 1 participants identified the target faster when their spatial position was congruent with the perceived power of the preceding word than when it was incongruent. In Experiment 2 ERPs showed a higher N1 amplitude for congruent spatial positions. These results support the view that attention is driven to the image schema congruent location of a power word. Thus, power is partially understood in terms of vertical space, which demonstrates that abstract concepts are grounded in sensory-motor processing.

I processi cognitivi coinvolti nell’apprendimento basato sulla simulazione possono essere analizzati alla luce del concetto di simulazione mentale, oggetto di studio in molte aree delle scienza cognitiva. Ma quali sono le similiarità e le differenze fra la simulazione “in silico” e quella mentale? E come possono questi due tipi di simulazione integrarsi per facilitare ed estendere i processi mentali degli studenti nella comprensione dei concetti scientifici? La risposta a queste domande richiede una rinnovata attenzione al computer come “strumento per pensare” e ai processi mentali sottostanti l’apprendimento. Sono a tal fine discussi alcuni esempi specifici e presentate delle linee guida per la creazione di ambienti di apprendimento basati sulla simulazione.

When taking a self-portrait or "selfie" to display in an online dating profile, individuals may intuitively manipulate the vertical camera angle to embody how they want to be perceived by the opposite sex. Concepts from evolutionary psychology and grounded cognition suggest that this manipulation can provide cues of physical height and impressions of power to the viewer which are qualities found to influence mate-selection. We predicted that men would orient selfies more often from below to appear taller (i.e., more powerful) than the viewer, and women, from an above perspective to appear shorter (i.e., less powerful). A content analysis was conducted which coded the vertical orientation of 557 selfies from profile pictures on the popular mobile dating application, Tinder. In general, selfies were commonly used by both men (54%) and women (90%). Consistent with our predictions, a gender difference emerged; men's selfies were angled significantly more often from below, ...

A critical question is " Was the theory which I developed really Grounded Theory (GT)?. GT aims to develop a new theory, it is perhaps one of the most abused phrases in qualitative study. Increasingly, researchers are making claims to have used a GT approach. This method is relatively little productive discussion in management literature. Grounded Theory of mode 2 knowledge-production system brings together the 'supply side' of knowledge, including universities, with the 'demand side', including business. The whole system depends for its effectiveness on a rapid interplay between management theory and practice. Mode 2 clearly focuses on management actions and describes the importance of involvement of participants and researcher through multidisciplinary approaches. This paper explains history of GT, principles of GT, data analysis, an example in building: Competitive Stakeholder Theory and finally working out complexity of GT " .

Previous research suggested that consumers' intentions to purchase products are increased when the product's depiction affords an action with the dominant hand than with the non-dominant hand. In eight experiments the authors obtained no evidence that consumers have higher intentions to buy products that are shown oriented towards their dominant hand than towards their non-dominant hand. The absence of a dominant hand advantage questions the role of action simulations in consumers' evaluations of visually depicted products.