Abstract:

The conceptual representation studies are very important for understanding the nature of the concepts. The disembodied cognition and embodied cognition both propose different opinions on the representation of concepts. On the disembodied cognition view, conceptual representations are abstract symbols. These symbols are extracted from the sensorimotor information. The conceptual representations don't contain sensorimotor information any more. On the embodied cognition opinion, the sensorimotor information underlies the conceptual representations. Cognition is essentially embodied and the body plays a essential role in the cognitive processes．The role of sensorimotor information in conceptual representation is the focus in dispute. The previous studies have provided a growing body of evidence for the role of sensorimotor information. The sensorimotor information is involved in concrete concepts and abstract concepts processing, and lots of neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies have found that the sensorimotor information are activated in concept processing. Furthermore, the phenomena of perceptual processing are found in concept processing, such as modality switching effect and haptic disadvantage effect. Previous studies have shown that switching from one modality to another during perceptual processing results in a processing cost. If sensorimotor information underlies conceptual processing, the processing of concepts should exhibit a switching cost. Most of the researchers agree that the sensorimotor information is involved in conceptual representation, and the perceptual and conceptual systems share the common representation resources. Although it reaches a consensus that the sensorimotor information are involved in conceptual representation, little is known about the mechanism of the information. In the future, researchers should pay attention to the following questions, such as that “in which cases sensory and motor information play a role?” and “how much impact it will have?” According to the embodied cognition, relevant theories are placed on a continuum. The continuum contains non-embodied cognition, secondary embodied cognition, weak cognition and strong embodied cognition. The accumulated evidence illustrate that both the non-embodied cognition and strong embodied cognition are problematic. In the future studies, researchers should survey available evidence and make the embodied more perfect. Researchers have gathered sufficient empirical evidence for the representation of concrete concepts. There is a big difference between the representation of concrete concepts and abstract concepts. For example, the concrete concepts have direct relationship with the sensorimotor information, but the relationship between abstract concepts and sensorimotor information is indirect. Abstract concepts are traditionally supposed to differ from concrete concepts by their lack of sensorimotor information, which causes them to have different processing modes. In order to provide evidence for the embodied cognition, some researchers propose several theories, such as conceptual metaphor theory, situated simulation theory, grounding by interaction assumption, representational pluralism assumption, etc. Furthermore, some researchers hold that the representations of concrete concepts are based on the sensorimotor information, and the representations of abstract concepts are based on the emotion information or the introspective state. In a word, many questions remain in the processing of concepts, and further research is needed to resolve conflicting results between different studies. What the future researches need to do is that researchers should supply more explanations for the available neuropsychological and neuroimaging evidence, and promote the integration of different representation approaches.

摘要：

研究概念的表征问题对理解概念的本质非常重要，传统认知和具身认知视角下的概念表征理论争议的焦点在于感觉运动信息在表征中的作用。传统认知视角下的离身认知认为感知觉运动信息会转化成抽象的符号，概念表征不包含感知觉运动信息。概念表征的具身观点认为感知觉运动信息是概念表征的基础。对感知运动信息在概念表征中起作用这一命题已经达成共识。未来研究应该关注感知运动信息起作用的机制，以及抽象概念表征等问题，进一步完善发展概念表征理论。