Share:


Conceptual problems with disembodied cognition in learning environment(s) and the alternative of embodied creativity

    Mindaugas Briedis Affiliation
    ; Mariano Navarro Affiliation

Abstract

The article is motivated by today’s practical realities and theoretical transformations that have affected education on a major scale. The shift from in-person to online classrooms at the beginning of the pandemic brought forward a series of issues related to embodied conditioning for creative strategies in the learning process. After presenting the shortcomings of the disembodied approach to education, we emphasize the role of the embodied (somatic, motoric, affective) aspects of education and discuss the embodied skills of creativity in a variety of learning environments. While so called embodied creativity became a fast-developing field due to mostly quantitative experiments in teaching-learning environments, it still lacks some conceptual clarification, especially in relation to its genesis in the paradigm of embodied cognition. Hence the main goal of this conceptual article is to extend, through the method of theory adaptation, the existing body of research on embodied cognition in academic environments to show how the embodied teaching and learning paradigm presents embodied creativity methods as an alternative to the disembodied approach to education and how technological environments provide an opportunity for such purposes.

Keyword : education, embodied cognition, embodied creativity, learning environment, physical action, skills, technology

How to Cite
Briedis, M., & Navarro, M. (2024). Conceptual problems with disembodied cognition in learning environment(s) and the alternative of embodied creativity. Creativity Studies, 17(1), 244–253. https://doi.org/10.3846/cs.2024.20755
Published in Issue
Apr 26, 2024
Abstract Views
297
PDF Downloads
213
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Abrahamson, D., & Lindgren, R. (2014). Embodiment and embodied design. In R. K. Sawyer (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences (pp. 358–376). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139519526.022

Abrahamson, D., & Sánchez-García, R. (2016). Learning is moving in new ways: The ecological dynamics of mathematics education. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 25(2), 203–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2016.1143370

Alacovska, A., & Gill, R. (2019). De-Westernizing creative labour studies: The informality of creative work from an ex-centric perspective. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 22(2), 195–212. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877918821231

Amabile, T. M. (1996). Creativity in context. Routledge.

Barsalou, L. W. (2010). Grounded cognition: Past, present, and future. Topics in Cognitive Science, 2(4), 716–724. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-8765.2010.01115.x

Barsalou, L. W., Niedenthal, P. M., Barbey, A. K., & Ruppert, J. A. (2003). Social embodiment. The Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Advances in Research and Theory, 43, 43–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079-7421(03)01011-9

Black, J. B. (2010). An embodied/grounded cognition perspective on educational technology. In M. Swe Khine & I. M. Saleh (Eds.), New science of learning: Cognition, computers and collaboration in education (pp. 45–52). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5716-0_3

Briedis, M. (2020). Phenomenological ethnography of radiology: Expert performance in enacting diagnostic cognition. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 19, 373–404. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-019-09612-x

Briedis, M. (2022). Sensing diagnostic images: Skilful embodied cognition in oncoradiology. Sensing and Imaging, 23(2). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11220-021-00372-0

Briedis, M., & Navarro, M. (2024). Embodied cognition and empathic experiences in war communication. Filosofija. Sociologija, 35(1), 98–107. https://doi.org/10.6001/fil-soc.2024.35.1.13

Chan, M. S., & Black, J. B. (2006). Direct-manipulation animation: Incorporating the Haptic channel in the learning process to support middle school students in science learning and mental model acquisition. In S. A. Barab, K. E. Hay, & D. T. Hickey (Eds.), The International Conference of the Learning Sciences: Indiana University 2006. Proceedings of ICLS 2006 (Vol. 1, 64–70). International Society of the Learning Sciences.

Craig, R. J., & Amernic, J. H. (2006). PowerPoint presentation technology and the dynamics of teaching. Innovative Higher Education, 31, 147–160. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-006-9017-5

Corley, K. G., & Gioia, D. A. (2011). Building theory about theory building: What constitutes a theoretical contribution? Academy of Management Review, 36(1), 12–32. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2009.0486

Couldry, N., & Hepp, A. (2017). The mediated construction of reality. Polity Press.

Damasio, A. (2005). Descartes’ error: Emotion, reason, and the human brain. Penguin Books.

Dewey, J. (1997). Experience and education. Touchstone.

Dingli, S. M., Pulis Xerxen, Sh., Byrge, Ch., Brøndum, K., Nunez, P., Hänninen, L. I., & Tang, Ch. (2018). Learning perspectives on digital embodied creativity training. Journal of Creativity and Business Innovation, 4, 111–123.

Dreyfus, H. L. (2016). Skillful coping: Essays on the phenomenology of everyday perception and action. M. A. Wrathall (Ed.). Oxford University Press.

Frith, E., Miller, S., & Loprinzi, P. D. (2020). A review of experimental research on embodied creativity: Revisiting the mind–body connection. Journal of Creative Behavior, 54(4), 767–798. https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.406

Gallagher, Sh., & Varela, F. J. (2003). Redrawing the map and resetting the time: Phenomenology and the cognitive sciences. Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 33, 93–132. https://doi.org/10.1080/00455091.2003.10717596

Gauvain, M. (2018). Collaborative problem solving: Social and developmental considerations. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19(2), 53–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100618813370

Gibbs Jr., R. W. (2005). Embodiment and cognitive science. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511805844

Gibson, J. J. (2014). The ecological approach to visual perception. Psychology Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315740218

Glenberg, A. M., Havas, D., Becker, R., & Rinck, M. (2005). Grounding language in bodily states: The case for emotion. In D. Pecher & R. A. Zwaan (Eds.), Grounding cognition: The role of perception and action in memory, language and thinking (pp. 115–128). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511499968.006

Goldin-Meadow, S. (2009). How gesture promotes learning throughout childhood. Child Development Perspectives, 3(2), 106–111. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-8606.2009.00088.x

Hirschheim, R. (2008). Some guidelines for the critical reviewing of conceptual papers. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 9(8), 432–441. https://doi.org/10.17705/1jais.00167

Hutto, D. D., & Sánchez-García, R. (2015). Choking RECtified: Embodied expertise beyond Dreyfus. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 14, 309–331. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-014-9380-0

Jaakkola, E. (2020). Designing conceptual articles: Four approaches. AMS Review, 10, 18–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13162-020-00161-0

Johnson, M. (1990). The body on the mind: The bodily basis of meaning, imagination, and reason. University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/431155

Kimmel, M., Hristova, D., & Kussmaul, K. (2018). Sources of embodied creativity: Interactivity and ideation in contact improvisation. Behavioral Sciences, 8(6). https://doi.org/10.3390/bs8060052

Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the flesh: The embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought. Basic Books.

Lakoff, G., & Nuñez, R. E. (2001). Where mathematics comes from: How the embodied mind brings mathematics into being. Basic Books.

Linkola, S., Guckelsberger, Ch., Männistö, T., & Kantosalo, A. (2022, 27–28 June). How does embodiment affect the human perception of computational creativity? An experimental study framework. In International Conference on Computational Creativity ’22 Workshop: The Role of Embodiment in the Perception of Human and Artificial Creativity. Bozen, Italy. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2205.01418.pdf

MacInnis, D. J. (2011). A framework for conceptual contributions in marketing. Journal of Marketing, 75(4), 136–154. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.75.4.136

Macrine, Sh. L., & Fugate, J. M. B. (Eds.). (2022). Movement matters: How embodied cognition informs teaching and learning. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/13593.001.0001

Macrine, Sh. L., & Fugate, J. M. B. (2021). Translating embodied cognition for embodied learning in the classroom. Frontiers in Education, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.712626

Malinin, L. H. (2016). Creative practices embodied, embedded, and enacted in architectural settings: Toward an ecological model of creativity. Frontiers in Psychology, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01978

Malinin, L. H. (2019). How radical is embodied creativity? Implications of 4e approaches for creativity research and teaching. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02372

Nathan, M. J., & Walkington, C. (2017). Grounded and embodied mathematical cognition: Promoting mathematical insight and proof using action and language. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 2. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-016-0040-5

Navarro, M., & Briedis, M. (2023). Enactive approach to social interactions in religious media ecologies. Explorations in Media Ecology, 22(3), 275–287. https://doi.org/10.1386/eme_00170_1

Navarro, M., & Briedis, M. (2022). The body in religious media ecologies: The case of Subaltern Latino Counterpublics. Filosofija. Sociologija, 33(3), 226–234. https://doi.org/10.6001/fil-soc.v33i3.4768

Núñez, R. E., Edwards, L. D., & Matos, J. F. (1999). Embodied cognition as grounding for situatedness and context in mathematics education. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 39, 45–65. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003759711966

O’Loughlin, M. (1995). Intelligent bodies and ecological subjectivities: Merleau-Ponty’s corrective to postmodernism’s “subjects” of education. In Philosophy of education yearbook (pp. 1–6). University of Sydney.

Pecher, D., & Zwaan, R. A. (2005). (Eds.). Grounding cognition: The role of perception and action in memory, language and thinking. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511499968

Petsilas, Ph., Leigh, J., Brown, N., & Blackburn, C. (2019). Creative and embodied methods to teach reflections and support students’ learning. Research in Dance Education, 20(1), 19–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/14647893.2019.1572733

Pouw, W. T. J. L., Gog, van T., & Paas, F. (2014). An embedded and embodied cognition review of instructional manipulatives. Educational Psychology Review, 26, 51–72. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-014-9255-5

Radford, L. (2003). Gestures, speech, and the sprouting of signs: A semiotic-cultural approach to students’ types of generalization. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 5(1), 37–70. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327833MTL0501_02

Radford, L. (2009). Why do gestures matter? Sensuous cognition and the palpability of mathematical meanings. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 70, 111–126. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-008-9127-3

Rowlands, M. (2013). The new science of the mind: From extended mind to embodied phenomenology. MIT Press/Bradford Books.

Semin, G. R., & Smith, E. R. (Eds.). (2008). Embodied grounding: Social, cognitive, affective, and neuroscientific approaches. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511805837

Shapiro, L. (2010). New problems of philosophy. Embodied cognition. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203850664

Shapiro, L. (Ed.). (2014). Routledge handbooks. The Routledge handbook of embodied cognition. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315775845

Shneiderman, B. (1983). Direct manipulation: A step beyond programming languages. Computer, 16(18), 57–69. https://doi.org/10.1109/MC.1983.1654471

Stanciu, M. M. (2015). Embodied creativity: A critical analysis of an underdeveloped subject. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 187, 312–317. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.03.058

Varela, F. J., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (1992). The embodied mind: Cognitive science and human experience. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/6730.001.0001

Varpio, L., Paradis, E., Uijtdehaage, S., & Young, M. (2020). The distinctions between theory, theoretical framework, and conceptual framework. Academic Medicine: Journal of Association of American Medical Colleges, 95(7), 989–994. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000003075

Weisberg, S. M., & Newcombe, N. S. (2017). Embodied cognition and STEM learning: Overview of a topical collection in CR:PI. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 2. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-017-0071-6

Wilson, M. (2002). Six views of embodied cognition. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 9, 625–636. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196322

Woodward, A. L., Sommerville, J. A., Gerson, S., Henderson, A. M. E., & Buresh, J. (2009). The emergence of intention attribution in infancy. Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 51, 187–222. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079-7421(09)51006-7

Young, G., & Whitty, M. T. (2010). In search of the Cartesian self: An examination of disembodiment within 21st-century communication. Theory and Psychology, 20(2), 209–229. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354309345633