Abstract
Neuroimaging results and related results from neuroscience have shown that the “multimodal” areas of the brain responsible for sensory integration are fundamental to semantic comprehension and language production. Developmental studies have shown that language comprehension and production involves infants learning by imitation from their caregivers to coordinate multimodal schemas that cross from one perceptual modality to another. Analyzing the both the physiological and socio-cultural constraints of embodiment on language, perception and cognition, I develop a theory of image schemas. As with the Gestalt perceptual structures, image schemas are dynamic perceptual wholes which prompt for ‘normal’ pattern completions based on our recurrent experiences in interacting with the world. I conclude by describing how both the theory of image schemas and embodied cognitive science generally can bring a fresh perspective to machine-learning problems such as the visual recognition of speech, emotion and gesture.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Turing, A.M.: Computing machinery and intelligence. Mind 59, 433–460 (1950)
Bohn, O.: Linguistic relativity in speech perception: An overview of the influence of language experience on the perception of speech sounds from infancy to adulthood. In: Niemeier, S., Dirven, R. (eds.) Evidence for Linguistic Relativity, pp. 1–12. John Benjamins, Amsterdam (2000)
Kristiansen, G.: How to do things with allophones. Linguistic stereotypes as cognitive reference points in social cognition. In: Dirven, R., Frank, R., Pütz, M. (eds.) Cognitive Models in Language and Thought. Ideology, Metaphors and Meaning, pp. 69–120. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin (2003)
Meltzoff, A., Moore, M.K.: Imitation of facial and manual gestures by human neonates. Science 198, 74–78 (1977)
Meltzoff, A.: Molyneux’s babies: Cross-modal perception, imitation and the mind of the preverbal infant. In: Spatial Representation: Problems in Philosophy and Psychology, pp. 219–235. Blackwell, Cambridge (1993)
Johansson, G.: Visual perception of biological motion and a model for its analysis. Perception and Psychophysics 14, 201–211 (1973)
Wertheimer, M.: Laws of organization in perceptual forms. In: Ellis, W (ed. & trans.), A source book of Gestalt psychology, pp. 71-88. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London (Original work published in 1923, as Untersuchungen zur Lehre von der Gestalt II, in Psychologische Forschung, 4:301-350) (1923/1938)
Arterberry, M.E., Borsnstein, M.H.: Three-month-old infants’ categorization of animals and vehicles based on static and dynamic attributes. J. Experimental Child Psychology 80, 333–346 (2001)
Bertenthal, B.I.: Infants’ perception of biomechanical motions: Intrinsic image and knowledge-based constraints. In: Granrud, C. (ed.) Visual Perception and Cognition in Infancy, pp. 175–214. Routledge, New York (1993)
Meltzoff, A., Borton, R.W.: Intermodal matching by human neonates. Nature 282, 403–404 (1979)
Stern, D.N.: The interpersonal world of the infant. Basic Books, New York (1985)
Rose, S.A., Ruff, H.A.: Cross modal abilities in human infants. In: Osofsky, J.D. (ed.) Handbook of infant development, pp. 318–362. Wiley, New York (1987)
Rose, S.A., Blank, M.S., Bridger, W.H.: Intermodal and Intramodal retention of visual and tactual information in young children. Developmental Psychology 6, 482–486 (1972)
Lewkowicz, D.J., Turkewitz, G.: Intersensory interaction in newborns: modification of visual preferences following exposure to sound. Child Development 52, 827–832 (1981)
Woodward, A.L.: Infants selectively encode the goal object of an actor’s reach. Cognition 69, 1–34 (1998)
Woodward, A.L.: Infants’ ability to distinguish between purposeful and non-purposeful behaviors. Infant Behavior and Development 22, 145–160 (1999)
Woodward, A.L., Guajardo, J.J.: Infants’ understanding of the point gesture as an object-directed action. Cognitive Development 83, 1–24 (2002)
Johnson, M.L.: The Body in the Mind: The Bodily Basis of Meaning, Imagination and Reason. University of Chicago Press, Chicago (1987)
Lakoff, G.: Women, Fire and Dangerous Things. University of Chicago Press, Chicago (1987)
Lakoff, G., Johnson, M.L.: Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought. Basic Books, New York (1999)
Johnson, M.L., Rohrer, T.: We are live creatures: Embodiment, American pragmatism, and the cognitive organism. In: Zlatev, J., Ziemke, T., Frank, R., Dirven, R. (eds.) Body, Language, and Mind, vol. 1, pp. 17–54. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin (2007)
Rizzolatti, G., Craighero, L.: The mirror neuron system. Annual Review of Neuroscience 27, 169–192 (2004)
Fogassi, L., Gallese, V., Buccino, G., Craighero, L., Fadiga, L., Rizzolatti, G.: Cortical mechanism for the visual guidance of hand grasping movements in the monkey: A reversible inactivation study. Brain 124, 571–586 (2001)
Buccino, G., Binkofski, F., Fink, G.R., Fadiga, L., Fogassi, L., Gallese, V., Seitz, J., Zilles, K., Rizzolatti, G., Freund, H.: Action observation activates premotor and parietal areas in a somatotopic manner: an fMRI study. European Journal of Neuroscience 13, 400–404 (2001)
Umiltá, M.A., Kohler, E., Gallese, V., Fogassi, L., Fadiga, L., Keysers, C., Rizzolatti, G.I.: know what you are doing: A neurophysiological study. Neuron 31, 155–165 (2001)
Ferrari, P.F., Gallese, V., Rizzolatti, G., Fogassi, L.: Mirror neurons responding to the observation of ingestive and communicative mouth actions in the monkey ventral premotor cortex. European Journal of Neuroscience 17, 1703–1714 (2003)
Kohler, E., Keysers, C., Umiltá, M.A., Fogassi, L., Gallese, V., Rizzolatti, G.: Hearing sounds, understanding actions: action representation in mirror neurons. Science 297, 846–848 (2002)
Suzuki, K., Yamadori, A., Fujii, T.: Category specific comprehension deficit restricted to body parts. Neurocase 3, 193–200 (1997)
Penfield, W.G., Rasmussen, T.B.: The cerebral cortex of man. Macmillan, New York (1950)
Coslett, H.B., Saffran, E.M., Schwoebel, J.: Knowledge of the human body: a distinct semantic domain. Neurology 59, 357–363 (2002)
Schwoebel, J., Coslett, H.B.: Evidence for multiple, distinct representations of the human body. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 4, 543–553 (2005)
Hauk, O., Johnsrude, I., Pulvermüller, F.: Somatotopic representation of action words in human motor and premotor cortex. Neuron 41, 301–307 (2004)
Pulvermüller, F., Hauk, O., Nikulin, V., Ilmoniemi, R.J.: Functional interaction of language and action processing: A TMS study. MirrorBot: Biometric multimodal learning in a mirror neuron-based robot, Report #8 (2002)
Rohrer, T.: Image Schemata in the Brain. In: Hampe, B. (ed.) From Perception to Meaning: Image Schemas in Cognitive Linguistics, pp. 165–196. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin (2005)
Zwaan, R.A., Madden, C.J., Yaxley, R.A., Aveyard, M.A.: Moving words: Dynamic representations in language comprehension. Cognitive Science 28, 611–619 (2004)
Glenberg, A.M., Kaschak, M.P.: Grounding language in action. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 9, 558–565 (2002)
Gibbs, R.W.: The psychological status of image schemas. In: Hampe, B. (ed.) From Perception to Meaning: Image Schemas in Cognitive Linguistics, pp. 113–135. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin (2005)
Rohrer, T.: Understanding through the body: fMRI and ERP studies of metaphoric and literal language. Paper presented at the 7th International Cognitive Linguistics Association conference (2001)
Moore, C.I., Stern, C.I., Corkin, S., Fischl, B., Gray, A.C., Rosen, B.R., Dale, A.M.: Segregation of somatosensory activation in the human rolandic cortex using fMRI. Journal of Neurophysiology 84, 558–569 (2000)
Matlock, T., Ramscar, M., Boroditsky, L.: The experiential link between spatial and temporal language. Cognitive Science 29, 655–664 (2005)
Fischl, B., Sereno, M.I., Tootell, R.B.H., Dale, A.M.: High-resolution inter-subject averaging and a coordinate system for the cortical surface. Human Brain Mapping 8, 272–284 (1999)
McGurk, H., MacDonald, J.: Hearing lips and seeing voices. Nature, 746–748 (1976)
Rohrer, T.: The body in space: Embodiment, experientialism and linguistic conceptualization. In: Zlatev, J., Ziemke, T., Frank, R., Dirven, R. (eds.) Body, Language, and Mind, vol. 2, pp. 339–378. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin (2007)
Rohrer, T.: Pragmatism, ideology and embodiment: William James and the philosophical foundations of cognitive linguistics. In: Dirven, R., Hawkins, B., Sandikcioglu, E. (eds.) Language and Ideology: Cognitive Theoretic Approaches, vol. 1, pp. 49–81. John Benjamins, Amsterdam (2001)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rohrer, T. (2011). Speaking without Thinking: Embodiment, Speech Technology and Social Signal Processing. In: Esposito, A., Esposito, A.M., Martone, R., Müller, V.C., Scarpetta, G. (eds) Toward Autonomous, Adaptive, and Context-Aware Multimodal Interfaces. Theoretical and Practical Issues. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6456. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18184-9_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18184-9_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-18183-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-18184-9
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)