Title: How Did We Get from There to Here? An Evolutionary Perspective on Embodied Cognition
Abstract: The human capacities for language, long-term plans, manipulation of abstract concepts, and accretion of knowledge and skills across generations simply have no competitors in other animals. The embodied cognition perspective is fundamentally an evolutionary one, viewing cognition as a set of abilities that built upon, and still reflects, the structure of our physical bodies and how our brains evolved to manage those bodies. But the embodied cognition literature has sometimes taken a very strong stance that cognition is fundamentally and directly bound to the body in its immediate physical environment. Instead, it is argued here that the value of the embodied cognition approach is not to deny the existence of abstract and de-contextualized thought, but to explain how it grew out of previously existing sensorimotor abilities. This chapter considers a cluster of possibly linked capacities that may have driven human embodied cognition, including the ability to exert flexible voluntary control over particular effectors, the ability to see analogies, and the ability to imitate. The story to be told is one of escape from situation-bound cognition to a more flexible, abstract, and "general purpose" form of cognition.
Publication Year: 2008
Publication Date: 2008-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 22
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot