Embodied Cognition and Semantic Comprehension

Abstract

This review and analysis of the literature aims to show in a brief manner the recent
fi
ndings in the study of
the nature of language and semantic comprehension from the embodied and motor theories of cognition. The
guidelines that uphold the embodied and enactive theories of cognition and their role for the study of language
in psycholinguistics are established, as it is becoming common to
fi
nd increasing support for them. In a
fi
rst
part of the article the main principles of the theory are shared as well as the different ideas about language
that have been proposed under the name of embodied semantics. Then, the case of Parkinson’s disease and
language processing impairments in Parkinson’s patients is taken as a critical case. This neurological disease
associated with voluntary movement and motor de
fi
cits, is ideal for validating theories that propose a close
relationship between motor activity in context, as well as the neurophysiology of action and the processes of
understanding language.