The Story So Far: How Embodied Cognition Advances Our Understanding of Meaning-Making

Summary

The review traces how cognitive science has grappled with the symbol grounding problem—the difficulty of explaining how abstract symbols acquire meaning. Embodied theories propose that meaning arises from sensorimotor experiences, and concrete action-related words indeed show consistent sensorimotor activation. However, abstract concepts remain a challenge for fully embodied accounts, as sensorimotor activation alone does not seem sufficient to explain them. Integration areas like convergence zones or the 'hub and spoke' model appear to be the most promising candidates for bridging the gap between concrete and abstract concepts and for unifying the field. The review identifies key milestones, fundamental challenges, and directions for future research.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Meaning-making in the brain has become one of the most intensely discussed topics in cognitive science. Traditional theories on cognition that emphasize abstract symbol manipulations often face a dead end: The symbol grounding problem. The embodiment idea tries to overcome this barrier by assuming that the mind is grounded in sensorimotor experiences. A recent surge in behavioral and brain-imaging studies has therefore focused on the role of the motor cortex in language processing. Concrete, action-related words have received convincing evidence to rely on sensorimotor activation. Abstract concepts, however, still pose a distinct challenge for embodied theories on cognition. Fully embodied abstraction mechanisms were formulated but sensorimotor activation alone seems unlikely to close the explanatory gap. In this respect, the idea of integration areas, such as convergence zones or the ‘hub and spoke’ model, do not only appear like the most promising candidates to account for the discrepancies between concrete and abstract concepts but could also help to unite the field of cognitive science again. The current review identifies milestones in cognitive science research and recent achievements that highlight fundamental challenges, key questions and directions for future research.