Cognition
Physical Experiences Influence the Way We Think and Learn
The mind and body work together to aid cognition and ultimately learning.
Posted August 20, 2025 Reviewed by Lybi Ma
Key points
- According to embodied cognition, the brain is not the sole contributor to cognitive activities.
- Embodied cognition proposes that our mental activities are deeply rooted in our bodily experiences.
- Our actions and surroundings shape our understanding of the world.
Traditional views of human cognition often describe mental faculties as computations performed by the brain in isolation from bodily experiences. The mind and body separation implies that the focus of learning is purely an intellectual activity. The field of embodied cognition proposes that bodies play a central role in our thinking and learning (Macrine, 2022). Cognition is not just an isolated mental activity but is closely linked to physicality. This approach considers the mind as something that goes beyond the brain. The mind and body work together to aid cognition and ultimately learning.
Bodily sensations and movements are not secondary to cognitive experiences. They form the basis of how we perceive and interact with our environment. From this perspective, the body plays a central role in shaping our experience of the world. This means that action matters for cognitive performance and learning. Observing others’ actions can improve knowledge. When we observe actions performed by other individuals, our motor system resonates along with the observed person.
The concept of embodied knowledge is a type of knowledge where the body knows how to act (how to touch type, how to ride a bicycle). One important feature of this knowledge is that the body, not the mind, is the knowing subject. Skills for performance are embodied, and the body knows how to act in each situation.
For example, finger counting systems used in childhood to learn numbers still play a role in adults when they process numbers. Research suggests that handwriting with a pencil fosters the acquisition of letter knowledge compared with keyboarding. Use of physical repetition helps students achieve mastery. As you repeat something, it becomes ingrained in your subconscious, allowing you to act on it without conscious effort. This is why repetition is so important for developing new habits and behaviors; the more you do something, the more automatic it becomes (Van der Schyff, 2022).
Embodied knowledge is concerned with a broad range of our daily actions: walking, eating food, getting dressed, driving a car, talking with others, and so on. For example, in riding a bicycle, most of us know how to ride a bicycle, and we can do it without any deliberation. There is no need to verbalize or represent in the mind all the procedures required.
Embodied knowledge is concerned with motor skills and habitual actions. The knowledge seems to be imprinted in one’s body. The knowing-subject here is the body itself, not the mind. The more skilled, or the more habitualized, the action is, the less aware we become of it. For example, when we drive a car, we have extended feelings from fender to fender, as if the car were a natural part of our body.
Our identities are shaped and reshaped depending on the habits we form. As the saying goes, “you are what you do.” Many musicians state that musical instruments become part of the musicians’ cognitive domain. For a professional guitarist, the guitar becomes an extension of the performer’s body. In this sense, the musical instruments are embodied entities.
The experience of listening to music can be described as embodied, which involves the body and its interactions with the sound. People tend to experience music with the body and the mind. Music that does not arouse emotions fails to produce an embodied experience. Research shows that people make sense of what they hear by mentally simulating the body motion (Godoy 2016). For example, the rhythmic coordination of hand clapping in an audience, or a foot tapping to the beat of a song, is a common experience.
In sum, embodied cognition proposes that thinking is not just a brain activity but a full-body process, combining what we sense, act, and where we are. For instance, thinking and learning are enhanced when abstract concepts are connected to tangible actions. Learning a new concept needs to engage sensations, emotions, and the environment. This results in more durable and richer knowledge.
References
Godøy R. I., Song M., Nymoen K., Haugen M. R., Jensenius A. R. (2016). Exploring sound-motion similarity in musical experience. J. New Music Res. 45, 210–222.
Macrine SL, Fugate JMB. (2022). Movement Matters: How Embodied Cognition Informs Teaching and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Van der Schyff Dylan, Schiavio, Andrea; Elliot, David J. (2022). Musical Bodies, Musical Minds: Enactive Cognitive Science and the Meaning of Human Musicality. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
