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Grounded separation: can the sensorimotor be grounded in the symbolic?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2021

Michael Gilead
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, 8410501, Israel
Yaacov Trope
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, [email protected]
Nira Liberman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv6997801, Israel.

Abstract

According to Lee and Schwarz, the sensorimotor experience of cleansing involves separating one physical entity from another and grounds mental separation of one psychological entity from another. We propose that cleansing effects may result from symbolic cognition. Instead of viewing abstract meanings as emerging from concrete physical acts of cleansing, this physical act may be appended with pre-existing, symbolic meaning.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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