One of the promises of the embodiment approach is the possibility of providing a unified account of psychology. As long asthere is life, there is an acting body. Consequently, the body potentially shapes all psychological processes. The role of thebody has been documented in cognition (Barsalou, 2008), social interaction (Semin & Smith, 2008), development (Thelen,1995), education (Glenberg, 2008a), emotions (Niedenthal, 2007), and illness (Lindeman & Abramson, 2008). Pickeringand Garrod (this volume) have provided an important contribution to the idea that the body shapes thought by developingan embodied approach to language that emphasizes its social nature. The primary goal of this commentary is to build onPickering and Garrod by discussing some of the neuroscience of language, using that to provide a hypothesis regardingimitative and complementary activation of meaning, and then extending the Pickering and Garrod analysis into the domainof emotions.
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