Clinical Language Sciences Section, School of Psychology & Clinical Language Sciences, Harry Pitt Building, University of Reading, London, UK.
Cortex. 2012 Jul;48(7):788-804. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2010.11.002. Epub 2010 Nov 18.
Over the last decade, there has been an increasing body of work that explores whether sensory and motor information is a necessary part of semantic representation and processing. This is the embodiment hypothesis. This paper presents a theoretical review of this work that is intended to be useful for researchers in the neurosciences and neuropsychology. Beginning with a historical perspective, relevant theories are placed on a continuum from strongly embodied to completely unembodied representations. Predictions are derived and neuroscientific and neuropsychological evidence that could support different theories is reviewed; finally, criticisms of embodiment are discussed. We conclude that strongly embodied and completely disembodied theories are not supported, and that the remaining theories agree that semantic representation involves some form of convergence zones (Damasio, 1989) and the activation of modal content. For the future, research must carefully define the boundaries of semantic processing and tackle the representation of abstract entities.
在过去的十年中，越来越多的工作探讨了感觉和运动信息是否是语义表示和处理的必要组成部分。这就是体现假说。本文对这项工作进行了理论综述，旨在为神经科学和神经心理学的研究人员提供有用的信息。本文从历史的角度出发，将相关理论置于从强烈体现到完全非体现的连续体上。本文推导出了一些预测，并回顾了支持不同理论的神经科学和神经心理学证据；最后，讨论了对体现的批评。我们的结论是，强烈体现和完全非体现的理论都没有得到支持，而其余的理论都认为语义表示涉及某种形式的汇聚区（达马西奥，1989）和模态内容的激活。未来，研究必须仔细定义语义处理的边界，并解决抽象实体的表示问题。
