Everything about Embodied language processing

🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path

1. Read the overview: Embodied language processingA 5-minute orientation
2. Skim a recent paper: Operational, embodied and whole life cycle assessment credits in green building certification systems: Desktop analysis and natural language processing approachInfluential work since 2022
3. Pick up a classic book: American FilmThe most-reprinted book on the subject
4. Read the landmark paper: Developing embodied cognition: insights from children’s concepts and language processingCited 134 times
5. Go sideways: Bi-directional hypothesis of language and actionA closely related topic
6. Go sideways: Embodied bilingual languageA closely related topic

🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)

• Developing embodied cognition: insights from children’s concepts and language processing

  Michele Wellsby, Penny M. Pexman · 2014 · Frontiers in Psychology · 134 citations

• Embodied language in first- and second-language speakers: Neural correlates of processing motor verbs

  Sophie De Grauwe, Roel M. Willems, Shirley-Ann Rueschemeyer · 2014 · Neuropsychologia · 79 citations

• Effects of Intentional Motor Actions on Embodied Language Processing

  Shirley-Ann Rueschemeyer, Oliver Lindemann, Daan van Rooij · 2010 · Experimental Psychology · 63 citations

• How meaning unfolds in neural time: Embodied reactivations can precede multimodal semantic effects during language processing

  Adolfo M. García, Sebastian Moguilner, Kathya Torquati · 2019 · NeuroImage · 53 citations

• Flexibility in Embodied Language Processing: Context Effects in Lexical Access

  Wessel O. van Dam, Inti A. Brazil, Harold Bekkering · 2014 · Topics in Cognitive Science · 32 citations

• Is Embodied Cognition Bilingual? Current Evidence and Perspectives of the Embodied Cognition Approach to Bilingual Language Processing

  Katharina Kühne, Claudia Gianelli · 2019 · Frontiers in Psychology · 31 citations

• Neural correlates of embodied action language processing: a systematic review and meta-analytic study

  Chiara Giacobbe, Simona Raimo, Maria Cropano · 2022 · Brain Imaging and Behavior · 22 citations

• Towards Understanding the Task Dependency of Embodied Language Processing: The Influence of Colour During Language-Vision Interactions

  Falk Huettig, Ernesto Guerra, Andrea Helo · 2020 · Journal of Cognition · 15 citations

🆕 Influential since 2022

• Operational, embodied and whole life cycle assessment credits in green building certification systems: Desktop analysis and natural language processing approach

  Oludolapo Ibrahim Olanrewaju, Wallace Imoudu Enegbuma, Michael Donn · 2024 · Building and Environment · 33 citations

• Statistical or Embodied? Comparing Colorseeing, Colorblind, Painters, and Large Language Models in Their Processing of Color Metaphors

  Ethan O. Nadler, Douglas Guilbeault, Sofronia M. Ringold · 2025 · Cognitive Science · 4 citations

• Embodied Metaphor Processing in Second Language Acquisition: Proficiency-Driven Mechanisms

  Mingyu Song · 2025 · Region - Educational Research and Reviews · 0 citations

• Raising the Roof: Situating Verbs in Symbolic and Embodied Language Processing

  John Hollander, Andrew Olney · 2024 · Cognitive Science · 0 citations

• Spatial Language as an Embodied Memory Tool: a Comparison of Speech and Sign Language Linguistic Processing

  Marley Bridger · 2025 · Canadian Undergraduate Journal of Cognitive Science · 0 citations

📚 Books worth reading

• American FilmAmerican Film Institute · 1975
• Social cognitionSusan T. Fiske, Shelley E. Taylor · 1984
• The Computer and the BrainJohn von Neumann · 1958
• Introduction to psycholinguisticsMatthew J. Traxler · 2011
• The metaphoric processGemma Corradi Fiumara · 1995
• Social theory in contemporary AsiaAnn Brooks · 2010
• 📕From mental imagery to spatial cognition and languageDenis, Michel, Valérie Gyselinck · 2012
• The Conspirators HierarchyJohn Coleman · 1992

Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.

🔗 Related topics

• Bi-directional hypothesis of language and action The bi-directional hypothesis of language and action proposes that the sensorimotor and language comprehension areas of the brain exert reciprocal influence…
• Embodied bilingual language Embodied bilingual language, also known as L2 embodiment, is the idea that people mentally simulate their actions, perceptions, and emotions when speaking…
• Bilingual interactive activation plus Bilingual interactive activation plus (BIA+) is a model for understanding the process of bilingual language comprehension and consists of two interactive…
• Broca's area Broca's area, or the Broca area (/ˈbroʊkə/, also UK: /ˈbrɒkə/, US: /ˈbroʊkɑː/), is a region in the frontal lobe of the dominant hemisphere, usually the…
• Language center In neuroscience and psychology, the term language center refers collectively to the areas of the brain which serve a particular function for speech processing…
• Prediction in language comprehension Linguistic prediction is a phenomenon in psycholinguistics occurring whenever information about a word or other linguistic unit is activated before that…
• Aphasiology Aphasiology is the study of language impairment usually resulting from brain damage, due to neurovascular accident—hemorrhage, stroke—or associated with…
• Language processing in the brain In psycholinguistics, language processing refers to the way humans use words to communicate ideas and feelings, and how such communications are processed…