Predictive processing posits that prediction-error minimization underlies all perception, action, and cognition. Yet, despite its considerable popularity and explanatory scope, it is unclear how this enables higher-level cognitive abilities, such as representing and reasoning over abstract concepts. We combine insights from predictive processing, structural representations and grounded...
This introductory chapter begins with a snapshot of current research to document the multidisciplinary nature of embodied cognition as a new theoretical frame for the study of the human mind. Theoretical tolerance towards representationalism and methodological openness are discussed as explanations for the current popularity of embodied cognition. Next, research questions and guiding principles...
Embodied theories are increasingly challenging traditional views of cognition by arguing that conceptual representations that constitute our knowledge are grounded in sensory and motor experiences, and processed at this sensorimotor level, rather than being represented and processed abstractly in an amodal conceptual system. Given the established empirical foundation, and the relatively...