Rethinking the Embodiment of Language: Challenges and Future Horizons

The field of embodied language comprehension has gained significant traction in recent years, suggesting that language understanding is inherently connected to our sensorimotor systems. Studies have increasingly demonstrated functional correlations between language processing and mechanisms involved in action and perception. Researchers have provided substantial evidence indicating that sensorimotor circuits are activated during the processing of phonological elements and concrete and abstract semantics, as shown in the works of Pulvermüller (2018), Hauk et al. (2004), Shtyrov et al. (2014), and recent reviews by Gallese and Cuccio (2018), and Borghi et al. (2019). Despite these advancements, the field faces ongoing challenges regarding the replicability of key findings, including the Action-Sentence Compatibility Effect, which have stirred debates and raised questions about the robustness of past research.

This Research Topic aims to address these challenges and uncertainties head-on, proposing innovative solutions and guiding future research in the area of language embodiment. It seeks to refine experimental approaches and improve the reliability of findings in order to solidify the basis of embodied cognition theories against traditional amodal perspectives of language understanding.

To gather further insights into the complexities of embodied language processing, this article collection welcomes manuscript contributions addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• theoretical debates on embodied versus amodal cognition
• innovations in methodologies for studying language embodiment
• examination of the link between sensorimotor systems and various linguistic components
• replication studies in the field of embodied cognition
• cross-disciplinary perspectives on enhancing replicability and reliability in cognitive linguistics.

Contributions may include a range of article types such as original research articles, review articles, and methodological papers that together will contribute to a more comprehensive and reliable understanding of the embodied nature of language processing.

Keywords: Embodied Language, Embodied Simulation, Language Processing, Multimodality, Replicability

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.