具身认知强调认知在本质上是具身的,身体在认知的实现中发挥着关键作用。传统的符号加工理论认为,概念表征独立于主体的知觉运动系统并以抽象符号的形式储存于语言记忆中。概念表征的具身理论则认为,概念表征与知觉运动系统具有共同的神经基础,概念在本质上是主体经验客体时知觉与运动体验的神经记录,而概念加工的基本形式则是身体经验的模拟与还原。关于该理论的实证研究主要集中于概念加工引发的知觉动作变化、身体动作对概念加工的影响、抽象概念加工的具身特征等领域。今后的研究应关注符号加工理论与具身理论的整合等。
The viewpoints of embodied cognition advocate that cognition is essentially embodied and the body plays a pivotal role in an organism's cognitive processes. Traditional symbolic-computational theories assume conceptual representation is stored as abstract symbols in semantic memory, separated from systems governing perception and action. The embodied theories of conceptual representation hold that conceptual representation is grounded in the same neural systems that govern sensation, perception and action. According this viewpoint, concepts are essentially neural recordings during perceptual and motor experiences, and these recordings can later be re-enacted as the way of conceptual processing. Recent work has focused on the emergence of perceptual phenomena in conceptual processing, the effect of body movement on conceptual processing, the embodied effect for processing abstract conception, the embodied effect for processing combined concept and modality switching costs effect. Future researches should focus on combining symbolic-computational theories and embodied theories.