Negative Effects Of Embodied Cognition

Embodied Cognition and Dynamic Systems: What about the Body?
The digital revolution has changed the life and cognition of millions of individuals, from children to adolescents to adults. Devices have become an extension of information that allows for learning, socializing, communicating, and entertaining in a way that has never happened before. This revolution has risks that may lead to both negative and positive effects. Negative effects may include a deficit in physical activity, a deficit in real life social skills, and an increase in non-productive use of time (Giedd, 2012). Positive effects may include greater knowledge and a heightened level of educating, better entertainment similar to virtual reality, and an expansion in the amount

This evidence is given by different experiments that show that cognition is body-scaled, it sometimes requires the body directly, and other times it requires it indirectly with neural simulations. Examples of embodied cognition have come to light by research (Glenberg, 2010). The first example of Embodied Cognition, shows how mirror neurons are important in imitation, social cognition, and memory. Mirror neurons are neurons that become active when an animal is engaged in a task and when they later watch another animal doing the same task. In an experiment with macaques, and using electrodes measure levels of activity in specific mirror neurons (Glenberg, 2010). It was shown that neurons in macaques are equally active when another animal is engaging in an action that the macaque has already learned to perform (Glenberg, 2010). When the experiment is done in humans it appears that the human mirror neurons responds more to actions the person has already learned to do mechanically, over an action that the person has only seen through vision, this can be due to the idea that mirror neurons make it easier to understand other’s actions, goals, and intentions (Glenberg,

When we store a memory, we are storing information (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968). What that information is about and how long we retain it determines on what type of memory it is. The biggest categories of memory are short-term memory/working memory and long-term memory. Long-Term Memory is our brain's system for storing, managing, and retrieving information (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968). Short-Term Memory is the short time that you keep something in mind before either dismissing it or transferring it to long-term memory (Atkinson & Shiffrin,