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2023届高考英语复习
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Is it true that our brain alone is responsible for human cognition (认知)? What about our body? Is it possible for thoughts and behavior to originate from somewhere other than our brain? Psychologists who study Embodied Cognition (EC) ask similar questions. The EC theory suggests our body is also responsible for thinking or problem-solving. More precisely, the mind shapes the body and the body shapes the mind in equal measure.
If you think about it for a moment, it makes total sense. When you smell something good or hear amusing sounds, certain emotions are awakened. Think about how newborns use their senses to understand the world around them. They don’t have emotions so much as needs — they don’t feel sad, they’re just hungry and need food. Even unborn babies can feel their mothers’ heartbeats and this has a calming effect. In the real world, they cry when they’re cold and then get hugged. That way, they start to associate being warm with being loved.
Understandably, theorists have been arguing for years and still disagree on whether the brain is the nerve centre that operates the rest of the body. Older Western philosophers and mainstream language researchers believe this is fact, while EC theorises that the brain and body are working together as an organic supercomputer, processing everything and forming your reactions.
Further studies have backed up the mind-body interaction. In one experiment, test subjects (实验对象) were asked to judge people after being handed a hot or a cold drink. They all made warm evaluations when their fingertips perceived warmth rather than coolness. And it works the other way too: in another study, subjects’ fingertip temperatures were measured after being included in or “rejected” from a group task. Those who were included felt physically warmer.
For further proof, we can look at the metaphors (比喻说法) that we use without even thinking. A kind and sympathetic person is frequently referred to a