A Developmental Framework for Embodiment Research: The Next Step Toward Integrating Concepts and Methods

Abstract

Embodiment research is at a turning point. There is an increasing amount of data and studies investigating embodiment phenomena and their role in mental processing and functions from across a wide range of disciplines and theoretical schools within the life sciences. However, the integration of behavioral data with data from different biological levels is challenging for the involved research fields such as movement psychology, social and developmental neuroscience, computational psychosomatics, social and behavioral epigenetics, human-centered robotics, and many more. This highlights the need for an interdisciplinary framework of embodiment research. In addition, there is a growing need for a cross-disciplinary consensus on level-specific criteria of embodiment. We propose that a developmental perspective on embodiment is able to provide a framework for overcoming such pressing issues, providing analytical tools to link timescales and levels of embodiment specific to the function under study, uncovering the underlying developmental processes, clarifying level-specific embodiment criteria, and providing a matrix and platform to bridge disciplinary boundaries among the involved research fields.

Maternal gender discrimination and child emotional and behavioural problems: A population-based, longitudinal cohort study in the Czech Republic

“…Mechanisms through which gender inequality translates into health disadvantages for children are poorly understood and require further research that encompasses measures of biological processes as well as social determinants and their interactions with biology. 6 , 41 These processes have been described as “embodiment,” 6 , 41 the process of translation of stressors into stress and thence into biological pathways toward disease. For gender discrimination more specifically, we know of no research on embodiment mechanisms linking maternal discrimination exposure to child health, though previous studies considering perceived racial and ethnic discrimination among mothers link it to adverse health outcomes among their children through a mechanism of maternal depression.…”

Evaluating Interactional Synchrony in Full-Body Interaction with Autistic Children

“…Theoretical foundations of such systems derive from theories that cognition and communication skills are developed through embodied interaction [67]. HCI researchers have developed virtual agents [65,68] or robots [66] that emulate directing attention, conveying emotion and communicative behaviours.…”

Regenerative Virtual Therapy: The Use of Multisensory Technologies and Mindful Attention for Updating the Altered Representations of the Bodily Self

“…The BSC represents a challenging research field because it requires an interdisciplinary framework to provide a link between all the afferent levels and brain circuits involved in a particular bodily experience ( Lux et al, 2021 ). However, recent neuroscience research ( Blanke, 2012 ; Blanke et al, 2015 ; Riva, 2018 ; Park and Blanke, 2019 ) is shedding new light on the processes involved in the BSC.…”