Abstract:

Abstract Until recently, psychology’ knowledge about mind-body relationship has been restricted by dualism which regards mind and body as two separable entities. In the history of human thought, however, a lots of thoughtful scholars such as Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty has criticized dualism and put forward that the mind and body are in effect an integrated whole. Recently, Theories of embodied cognition are beginning to spread considerably in psychology and other cognitive sciences. Embodied cognition programme (ECP) take into account situational conditions, bodily states and sensory–motor simulation in the formation of cognitive processes. This brand-new viewpoints of embodied cognition hold that cognitive processes are deeply rooted in the body's interactions with the world. Cognition takes place not only in central system, but in the perceptual and motor systems and extended into environment. The categories we use to describe and explain the objective world have their origins in spatial and physical experience. Therefore, we should understand cognition in its direct interaction with the environment. The view that cognition is embodied means: (a) cognition is shaped by the physical attribute of our body. The abstract thought and complex emotional experiences are based on bodily and neuro-structure. Cognition is constrained by the specific kind of body we possess, and (b) there is a strong causal relationship between the nature of our sensory organs and motor functions , and our cognitive functioning. Our concepts are processed in close interaction with sensory-motor systems, and the cognitive representations are fundamentally grounded in brain’s modality-specific systems. (c) the cognition is grounded in brain, the brain in body, and body in environment. The mind extends beyond the boundaries of skull and skin into the world beyond. ECP has provided systematic evidences which have demonstrated the impossibility of the mind-body dualism, theoretically and experimentally. ECP emphasizes mind’s dependences on body and puts forward a holism of mind-body relationship. It shows that there will be no mental activity if there are no bodily structure and functioning. Human mind such as memory, thinking, emotion and personality can not be separated from the physical state of body and sensory-motor mechanism. ECP is rapidly gaining prominence in the world of cognitive science. At first, the discussion of embodied cognition was only a metaphysical thinking in phi

Key words: embodied cognition, mind-body relationship, psychology, dualism

摘要：

摘要 由笛卡尔开创的身心二元论一直制约着人们对身心关系的认识。但是近年来兴起的具身认知研究却从理论和实证的角度系统论证了二元论的不可能性，指出了心智对身体的依赖性，并据此提出了身心一体的身心关系学说。最初，有关具身认知的讨论仅仅是哲学领域有关身心关系问题的形而上学思考，随后开始成为心理学中的一种理论思维，并逐步进入实验心理学领域。如今，ERP、FMRI等认知神经科学的手段在具身认知的研究中得到了广泛使用。具身认知已成为心理学和认知科学中的一股汹涌澎湃的实证研究思潮。

关键词: 具身认知, 身心关系, 心理学, 认知科学