Embodied Cognition

This topic has been argued quite a bit recently because there is no clear definition on what embodied cognition is. Goldinger's approach to embodied cognition consisted of him first listing out the limitations and then following up with his own definitions to what he believes embodied cognition truly is. The main concerns that Goldinger addressed started with the analysis not accurately depicting growth for the literature in general. Secondly, he addressed the lack of understanding of what embodied cognition really is. Language processing was another area he touched on, what I believe he is trying to say is does language apply in all contexts and areas equally or is there other ways to convey ourselves? Goldinger went on to criticize methodological sections as well because he believed that they were not accurate nor reliable. The approach to embodied cognition that Goldinger argued yields no clear answer to whether he was justified in his actions, or completely off but one thing for certain it definitely made sense. The way he explained himself was in two separate sections starting with the definitional challenge. The definitional challenge aims to create a coherent theory of cognition. To do that first they must properly define the scope of a study. For example, being more specific about the finding of the study and the limitations of the study is a step in the right direction. Also, it is important to look at the level of the analysis, the language, the genre, and the task at hand (Simons, Shoda, & Lindsay, 2017). Next Goldinger went on to talk about the methodological challenge which touches on psychology's replicability problem as well as sentence comprehension. Sentence comprehension is a hypothesis that is looking at conceptual replications vs direct replications of studies. Psychology sometimes faces tough decisions when it comes to research because when designing/running an experiment researchers are often asked what is more important reliability or validity? That question sends mixed reviews because there is no clear answer a measurement could be reliable, but not valid and vice versa.

References:

Simons, D. J., Shoda, Y., & Lindsay, D. S. (2017). Constraints on generality (COG): A proposed addition to all empirical papers. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12, 1123–1128.

Zwaan, R, A. (2021). Two challenges to "embodied cognition" research and how to overcome them. Journal of Cognition, 4, 14.

Links:

Two Challenges to “Embodied Cognition” Research And How to Overcome Them (journalofcognition.org)