This seminar offers an introduction to embodiment. Does the representation of thought and emotion depend upon the sensory and motor system? Highlights: the figurative processing of "go" still evokes voltage changes in foot muscles, conceptualizing time activates the eyes to look along a mental time line, abstract causality might still be grounded in motor control, emotion shows in the way we walk
Lernziel
Looking at the degree of embodiment in cognition and emotion naturally leads to the question how the mind works. What is the nature of human thoughts and emotions? How deeply are they dependent upon features of our physical body as an agent? Do the sensory and motor system play a physically constitutive role in conceptualizing thought and emotion? We will look at these questions by examining the degree of embodiment in basic thinking types of our mind (space, time, and causality thinking) as well as in abstract thought (e.g., logical thinking) and in emotion processing. As will be discussed, the topic of how the mind works is not only of central importance in the humanities (psychology, linguistics, philosophy, anthropology, education), but is also relevant for parts of the natural and technological sciences (physiology, neuroscience, medicine, computer science, artificial intelligence, robotics). Furthermore, embodied cognition is also relevant for the question how the mind is cognitively and emotionally influenced by environmental features, and as such embodied findings are also relevant for fields such as architecture and mechanical engineering.
