Hommel, B.
Leiden University, N.L.
The recent years have provided increasing empirical evidence that human cognition is grounded in sensorimotor experience and, thus, embodied. This can be considered a proof of principle, an important step in laying the foundations for the study of embodied cognition-Embodied Cognition 1.0 if you will. But what are the next steps to take? I will consider three major empirical and theoretical challenges that the study of embodied cognition is facing. First, we need to move from demonstrating that sensorimotor processes are somehow involved in cognition to showing and explaining that and how cognition actually emerges from sensorimotor processes. Second, and relatedly, we need to explain how cognitive (i.e., covert) actions are derived from overt actions, that is, whether, to what degree, and how cognitive mechanisms emerge through the interiorization of sensorimotor action. And third, we need to demonstrate that, and understand how different bodies and sensorimotor opportunities really produce different cognitions and cognitive operations. This endeavor to build Embodied Cognition 2.0 is likely to require collaboration and empirical and theoretical integration across subdisciplines and disciplines, ranging from cognitive neuroscience, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and cognitive robotics to social psychology, linguistics, and cognitive anthropology.