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Dynamic Grounding of Concepts: Implications for Emotion and Social Cognition

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Handbook of Embodied Psychology

Abstract

Concepts shape experience and create understanding. Accordingly, a key question is how concepts are created, represented, and used. According to embodied cognition theories, concepts are grounded in neural systems that produce experiential and motor states. Concepts are also contextually situated and thus engage sensorimotor resources in a dynamic, flexible way. Finally, on that framework, conceptual understanding unfolds in time, reflecting embodied as well as linguistic and social influences. In this chapter, we focus on concepts from the domain of affect and emotion. We highlight the context-sensitive nature of embodied conceptual processing by discussing when and how such concepts link to sensorimotor and interoceptive systems. We argue that embodied representations are flexible and context dependent. The degree to which embodied resources are engaged during conceptual processing depends upon multiple factors, including an individual’s task, goals, resources, and situational constraints.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, Mailcode 0109, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0109, USA

    Joshua D. Davis & Seana Coulson

  2. Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, USA

    Andrew J. Arnold & Piotr Winkielman

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  1. Joshua D. Davis
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  2. Seana Coulson
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  3. Andrew J. Arnold
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  4. Piotr Winkielman
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Correspondence to Joshua D. Davis .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. NDSU Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA

    Michael D. Robinson

  2. NDSU Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA

    Laura E. Thomas

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Davis, J.D., Coulson, S., Arnold, A.J., Winkielman, P. (2021). Dynamic Grounding of Concepts: Implications for Emotion and Social Cognition. In: Robinson, M.D., Thomas, L.E. (eds) Handbook of Embodied Psychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78471-3_2

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