# Editorial: Dynamics of Sensorimotor Interactions in Embodied Cognition

Guillaume Vallet, Lionel Brunel, Benoit Riou, Nicolas Vermeulen

<figure><img src="image_1.png" /></figure>

## To cite this version:

Guillaume Vallet, Lionel Brunel, Benoit Riou, Nicolas Vermeulen. Editorial: Dynamics of Sensorimotor Interactions in Embodied Cognition. Frontiers in Psychology, 2016, 6, pp.1929. 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01929. [https://hal.science/hal-01979234](https://hal.science/hal-01979234)

HAL Id: hal-01979234

[https://hal.science/hal-01979234](https://hal.science/hal-01979234)

Submitted on 13 Jan 2022

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access
archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci-
entific research documents, whether they are pub-
lished or not. The documents may come from
teaching and research institutions in France or
abroad, or from public or private research centers.

L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est
destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents
scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non,
émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de
recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires
publics ou privés.

<figure><img src="image_2.png" /></figure>
<figure><img src="image_3.png" /></figure>

CrossMark

# Editorial: Dynamics of Sensorimotor Interactions in Embodied Cognition

Guillaume T. Vallet<fnref n="1" />*, Lionel Brunel<fnref n="2" />, Benoit Riou³ and Nicolas Vermeulen⁴

**Keywords:** embodied cognition, grounded cognition, situated cognition, sensorimotor interactions, memory, action, perception, emotion

## The Editorial on the Research Topic

### Dynamics of Sensorimotor Interactions in Embodied Cognition

The concept of incorporating the current situation and the body state within cognitive processes, referred to as embodiment, has revolutionized cognitive research (Glenberg et al., 2013). Interest in this approach has grown substantially in the last few decades. Embodied cognition has now been demonstrated across a wide range of topics, from babies (e.g., Smith and Gasser, 2005) to elderly adults (e.g., Vallet et al., 2013a), from normal cognition to neuropsychology (e.g., Vallet et al., 2013b) as well as in emotion (e.g., Vermeulen et al., 2007), and in neuroscience as a whole (e.g., Pulvermüller, 2013). Nevertheless, there is yet much to discover in order to better understand embodiment.

One of the striking arguments of embodiment is that sensorimotor features are at the core of mental processes (Pecher and Zwaan, 2005; Barsalou, 2010). Their relationship should also be considered to be dynamic. In the embodied cognition approaches, perception, memory, and action are no longer regarded as (relatively) independent functions, but rather as closely interacting components. Some authors even argue for an overlap within these processes (Brunel et al., 2009, 2015; Vermeulen et al., 2009) that would rely on the same neural code (e.g., Hommel). One key direction in embodiment that needs to be further explored is the dynamic interaction between the sensory and motor components across the different cognitive functions. The present Research Topic aims to shed new light on this issue.

The importance of studying this problematic is well presented in Dijkstra and Post's critical review. Their article highlights the crucial role of sensorimotor simulation across several cognitive activities (e.g., reasoning, evaluating) and how the interaction between the current situation and the simulation of past sensorimotor states mediates the emergence of adaptive behavior. This is possible since perception and memory interact closely and share processes and resources (e.g., Vermeulen et al., 2008; Riou et al., 2011; Rey et al., 2014). In other words, "direct" perception of an object and the mental simulation of this object involve common sensorimotor units. Heurley and Ferrier argue in their perspective that these interactions serve to plan and control actions to interact with well-known objects in non-optimal perceptual conditions, thus producing adaptive behavior.

The idea that cognitive activities are strongly influenced by the given social and physical environment is referred to as situated cognition. Rey et al. demonstrate that motor simulation relies on the relevance of the object as a function of the task. Further evidence also supports the hypothesis that sensorimotor simulation is heavily influenced by situational aspects (Kapoula et al.). For instance, Amorim et al. have demonstrated that the visual angle and screen orientation along with contextual information modulates the resulting movement.

## OPEN ACCESS

Edited and reviewed by:
Bernhard Hommel,
Leiden University, Netherlands

*Correspondence:
Guillaume T. Vallet
gtvallet@gmail.com

**Specialty section:**
This article was submitted to
Cognition,
a section of the journal
Frontiers in Psychology

Received: 27 November 2015

Accepted: 30 November 2015

Published: 05 January 2016

**Citation:**
Vallet GT, Brunel L, Riou B and Vermeulen N (2016) Editorial: Dynamics of Sensorimotor Interactions in Embodied Cognition. Front. Psychol. 6:1929. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01929

<footnote n="1">¹Department of Psychology, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Montreal, Canada,</footnote>

<footnote n="2">²Laboratoire EPSYLON, Department of Psychology, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier III, Montpellier, France, ³Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs, Department of Psychology, Université Lyon 2, Lyon, France, ⁴Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium</footnote>
The reverse is also applicable, since sensorimotor simulation
shapes our perception of, as well as our interaction with, our
environment. Grade *et al.* found that similar action simulation
underlies both reachability and egocentric distance perception.
This effect can be generalized across individuals and possibly
incorporate the role of social environment in cognition. In
accordance, Quesque and Coello show that during reach-to-
grasp actions, participants unconsciously modify their trajectory
curvature based on their partner's eye level. This adaptation
to biological motion is one the key component of social
interaction, but human movements are so complex that they
might be described as mathematically chaotic. Nonetheless,
children quickly develop the ability to coordinate gaze, and in
some respect posture, in response to complex chaotic motion
structures (Haworth *et al.*).

The dynamics of sensorimotor interactions allows for
situational behavioral adaptation in reaching and grasping,
but also in more complex evaluative processes. For instance,
associations between handedness and valence have previously
been found (e.g., Casasanto, 2011). de la Vega et al. extend
this finding by showing that strong right-footers respond to
positive words faster with the dominant foot. The association
between valence and laterality, however, becomes less clear
when motor fluency is taken into account. Brouillet et al.
observe that most participants prefer choosing stable supports
for “good” items, regardless of side and handedness. The space-
valence association could also be reported for the vertical axis.
Xie et al. demonstrate that the processing of affective valence
concepts activated the vertical spatial axis (positive in the up
position).

The association between cognition and space in the context
of emotion is well documented, but it is not restricted to this
cognitive domain. Hartmann et al. report that simple arithmetics
are associated with gaze shifting along the vertical axis.
Interestingly, operand magnitude partly modulated horizontal
gaze position as well. The reciprocal influence of motor
components on numerical cognition may also provide the
opportunity to assess numerical cognition with methods such as

mouse tracking. In their perspective, Fischer and Hartmann point
out important insight and methodological considerations on
conceptual aspects related to numeric cognition. This perspective
has been further elaborated by Faulkenberry and Rey.

These recent reports offer a new perspective on cognitive functioning, one that combines sensorimotor dynamics with contextual and body information. These new concepts provide new opportunities to explore related domains such as motivation (Shalev) and anticipation (Raab) and offer a new framework to interpret well-known and sometimes contradictory results in fields such as short-term memory (Macken et al.) or healthy cognitive aging (Vallet).

## AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

Every author participates to the writing of the editorial article. All of them also significantly contribute to the edition of the articles of the research topic.

## FUNDING

GV is supported by a postdoctoral grant from the Fonds
Québécois de la Recherche en Santé (FRQS). LB is supported
by ACCEPT (“Assistance Tools and Cognitive Contribution:
Embodied Potential of Technology”), French research ministerial
mission (MiRe-DREES and CNSA). BR is supported by FS-
CH (Formation Universitaire à distance, Suisse) and this
work by the LabEx Cortex (“Construction, Function, and
Cognitive Function and Rehabilitation of the Cortex,” ANR-
10-LABX-0042) of Université de Lyon, within the program
“Investissements d’Avenir” (ANR-11-IDEX-0007) operated by
the French National Research Agency (ANR).

## ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors wish to thank Kristina Aurousseau for her precious
help and meticulous proofreading as well as all authors and
reviewers involved in the present research topic.

## REFERENCES

Barsalou, L. W. (2010). Grounded cognition: past, present, and future. *Top. Cogn. Sci.* 2, 716–724. doi: 10.1111/j.1756-8765.2010.01115.x

Brunel, L., Carvalho, P. F., and Goldstone, R. L. (2015). It does belong together: cross-modal correspondences influence cross-modal integration during perceptual learning. *Front. Psychol.* 6:358. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00358

Brunel, L., Labeye, E., Lesourd, M., and Versace, R. (2009). The sensory nature of episodic memory: sensory priming effects due to memory trace activation. *J. Exp. Psychol. Learn. Mem. Cogn.* 35, 1081–1088. doi: 10.1037/a0015537

Casasanto, D. (2011). Different bodies, different minds: the body specificity of language and thought. *Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci.* 20, 378–383. doi: 10.1177/0963721411422058

Glenberg, A. M., Witt, J. K., and Metcalfe, J. (2013). From the revolution to embodiment: 25 years of cognitive psychology. *Perspect. Psychol. Sci.* 8, 573–585. doi: 10.1177/1745691613498098

Pecher, D., and Zwaan, R. A. (2005). *Grounding Cognition: The Role of Perception and Action in Memory, Language, and Thinking*. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Pulvermüller, F. (2013). How neurons make meaning: brain mechanisms for embodied and abstract-symbolic semantics. *Trends Cogn. Sci.* 17, 458–470. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2013.06.004

Rey, A. E., Riou, B., and Versace, R. (2014). Demonstration of an Ebbinghaus illusion at a memory level: manipulation of the memory size and not the perceptual size. *Exp. Psychol.* 61, 378–384. doi: 10.1027/1618-3169/a0 00258

Riou, B., Lesourd, M., Brunel, L., and Versace, R. (2011). Visual memory and visual perception: when memory increase visual search. *Mem. Cognit.* 39, 1094–1102. doi: 10.3758/s13421-011-0075-2

Smith, L., and Gasser, M. (2005). The development of embodied cognition: six lessons from babies. *Artif. Life* 11, 13–29. doi: 10.1162/1064546053278973

Vallet, G. T., Hudon, C., Simard, M., and Versace, R. (2013b). The disconnection syndrome in the Alzheimer's disease: the cross-modal priming example. *Cortex* 49, 2402–2415. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2012.10.010

Vallet, G. T., Simard, M., Versace, R., and Mazza, S. (2013a). The perceptual nature of audiovisual interactions for semantic knowledge in young and elderly adults. *Acta Psychol.* 143, 253–260. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy. 2013.04.009
Vermeulen, N., Niedenthal, P. M., and Luminet, O. (2007). Switching between sensory and affective systems incurs processing costs. *Cogn. Sci.* 31, 183–192. doi: 10.1080/03640210709336990

Vermeulen, N., Corneille, O., and Niedenthal, P. M. (2008). Sensory load incurs conceptual processing costs. *Cognition* 109, 287–294. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2008.09.004

Vermeulen, N., Mermillod, M., Godefroid, J., and Corneille, O. (2009). Unintended embodiment of concepts into percepts: Sensory activation boosts attention for same-modality concepts in the attentional blink paradigm. *Cognition* 112, 467–472. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2009.06.003

**Conflict of Interest Statement:** The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Copyright © 2016 Vallet, Brunel, Riou and Vermeulen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.