Claudia will be visiting our group for 6 months, and this is the first presentation of her PhD project, focusing on a critical assessment and further development of "mirror neuron" theory from a cognitive semiotics perspective. All are warmly welcome to the room, or if not possible to the zoom link. The talk will start at 16:15, and will last for 30 minutes, followed by 15 minutes discussion. (After that, all involved are migrating to Valvet to celebrate the succssful IACS-5 conference that we recently organized...)

I will discuss some central ideas of my PhD project, which deals with critically evaluating the so-called “mirror neuron hypothesis”, in particular as stated by Gallese and Lakoff (2005), where neural patterns within the brain’s sensory-motor systems are posited as the fundamental basis for conceptual knowledge. I argue that although Gallese’s original goal was to supersede traditional cognitivist theories, his underlying neuro-linguistic approach replicates the biological determinism it aims to surpass, thereby restricting the role of the body to mere neural activity. Despite subsequent caution against the over-reliance on neuroscientific findings to define (social) cognition (Gallese 2008), there remain risks inherent in assuming that neural correlates alone are sufficient to explain complex cognitive phenomena, such as language and meaning — the trend Tallis (2011) has famously critiqued as “Neuromania”. Countering these reductionist tendencies, I draw on Violi’s (2008) concept of "fully embodied semiosis" and emphasize the significance of integrating affect, emotion, subjectivity, and intersubjectivity into cognitive and linguistic theories. While the mirror neuron hypothesis offers valuable insights into the neural underpinnings of cognition, its overextension could potentially constrain our understanding of “embodied cognition”. Consequently, a more nuanced and comprehensive approach is necessary—one that recognizes the embodied subject as an active participant in meaning-making, integrating bodily, neural, and social dimensions, without oversimplifying the complexity of human experience.

Gallese, V., & Lakoff, G. (2005). The Brain's Concepts: The Role of the Sensory-Motor System in Conceptual Knowledge. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 22(3-4), 455-479.

Gallese, V. (2008). Mirror neurons and the social nature of language: The neural exploitation hypothesis. Social Neuroscience, 3(3-4), 317-333.

Tallis, R. (2011). Aping Mankind: Neuromania, Darwinitis and the Misrepresentation of Humanity. Acumen Publishing.

Violi, P. (2008). Beyond the body: Towards a full embodied semiosis. Semiotica, 2008(173), 1-22.