Learning and Embodied Cognition: A Review and Proposal

The objective of this review is to investigate research in instructional methods and embodied cognition in order to suggest the idea that a professor's movement provides information by increasing levels of exogenous embodiment. This review describes how teaching methods varying in human activity lead to different outcomes and how those outcomes may be linked to the presence of an active body providing instruction. The embodied cognition literature suggests the physical actions we perform and the actions being performed around us shape our mental experience. We argue that students mentally imitate the gestures of their professor, this activity contributes to the embodied experience one has in a classroom, and that this increased activity leads to increased recall. One possible reason for increased student learning in human-centered environments is the activation of mirror neurons. Implications for teaching topics in a psychology classroom are discussed.