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Mental simulation in language comprehension and social cognition
Author(s) -
Zwaan Rolf A.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.661
Subject(s) - psychology , comprehension , cognition , social cognition , cognitive psychology , face (sociological concept) , cognitive science , empirical research , empirical evidence , linguistics , epistemology , philosophy , neuroscience
Current theories in social cognition and cognitive psychology conceptualize understanding of actions and of language describing actions as the performance of sensorimotor simulations. Although there is emerging empirical evidence for these theories, they are currently underspecified and the evidence is correspondingly coarse. Language is a sensitive tool that allows us to construe actions in myriad ways. This paper discusses several challenges that face simulation theories aimed at capturing the subtlety of language. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.