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Anna Borghi

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Anna Borghi
CitizenshipItalian
OccupationAssociate Professor of Psychology
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Bologna
Academic work
InstitutionsSapienza University of Rome

Anna M. Borghi is a cognitive psychologist known for her work on embodied cognition and embodied language comprehension.[1] She is Associate Professor of Psychology at the Sapienza University of Rome and an associate researcher at the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technology,[1] Italian Research Council.[2] Borghi serves as Specialty Chief Editor of Frontiers in Psychology (area: Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology).[3]

Biography

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Borghi received her Laurea in Philosophy in 1987 and her PhD in Experimental Psychology in 1997 from the University of Bologna.[4] Her dissertation was titled Struttura e funzione nella concettualizzazione: il ruolo della percezione, del linguaggio e della conoscenza [Structure and function in categorization: the role of perception, language and knowledge]. Much of Borghi's early work was focused on how conceptual categories are structured,[5][6] with her later work centering around embodied cognition.[7]

After her PhD work, she completed a post doctorate fellowship and collaborated with Laurence Barsalou at Emory University, and subsequently with Arthur Glenberg at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.[4] The collaboration with Glenberg resulted in well cited paper "Putting Words in Perspective", where the authors presented evidence that there was a link between conceptual knowledge and action.[8]

Research

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Borghi's research investigates how language and concepts are grounded in bodily states and motor systems.[9] Specifically, Borghi has focused on the role that affordance perception has in language comprehension[10] and conceptualization.[11][8] Borghi has also explored how affordances are more generally processed by the human visual system, and has argued that affordances should be understood as sensorimotor representations of possible actions one can take towards an object.[12][13]

Borghi and her collaborators are responsible for the Words as Social Tools hypothesis,[14] which claims that language serves as a tool to develop abstract concepts. This hypothesis emphasizes the social nature of concepts and argues for specific neural correlates for abstract concepts, such as areas associated with social cognition and motor areas representing the mouth.[15] The Words as Social Tools hypothesis has received praise from some researchers for recognizing the role of language in cognition[16] and the social role of abstract concepts,[17] but has received criticism for some specific components of the theory, such as the role of mouth motor representations,[18] and the underutilization of the mirror neuron system.[19]

Books

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  • Borghi, Anna M., Binkofski, F. (2014). Words as social tools: an embodied view applied to abstract concepts. New York. ISBN 978-1-4614-9539-0. OCLC. 873949348.
  • Borghi, Anna M. (2023). The Freedom of Words: Abstractness and the Power of Language. Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781108913294.

Representative papers

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  • Borghi, A. M. & Cimatti, F. (2010). "Embodied cognition and beyond: Acting and sensing the body". Neuropsychologia. 48 (3): 763–773.
  • Borghi, A. M., Glenberg, A. M., Kaschak, M. P. (2004). "Putting words in perspective". Memory & Cognition. 32 (6): 863–873.
  • Borghi, A.M. & Riggio, L. (2009). "Sentence comprehension and simulation of object temporary, canonical and stable affordances". Brain Research. 1253: 117–128.

References

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  1. ^ a b "People | Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione". www.istc.cnr.it. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  2. ^ "BallaB - MEMBERS". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  3. ^ "Frontiers in Psychology". www.frontiersin.org. Retrieved 2021-03-20.
  4. ^ a b "Anna Borghi - Home page". laral.istc.cnr.it. Retrieved 2021-03-09.
  5. ^ Borghi, Anna; Caramelli, Nicoletta (1996). "Superordinate and basic level concepts in different contexts". International Journal of Psychology. 31 (3–4): 1656.
  6. ^ Caramelli, Nicoletta; Borghi, Anna (1997). "The hierarchical structure of categories: perception vs cognition". Ricerche di Psicologia. 21: 7–46.
  7. ^ Borghi, Anna M.; Cimatti, Felice (February 2010). "Embodied cognition and beyond: Acting and sensing the body". Neuropsychologia. 48 (3): 763–773. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.10.029. PMID 19913041. S2CID 13157947.
  8. ^ a b Borghi, Anna M.; Glenberg, Arthur M.; Kaschak, Michael P. (2004-09-01). "Putting words in perspective". Memory & Cognition. 32 (6): 863–873. doi:10.3758/BF03196865. ISSN 1532-5946. PMID 15673175.
  9. ^ Grounding cognition : the role of perception and action in memory, language, and thinking. Diane Pecher, Rolf A. Zwaan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2010. ISBN 978-0-521-16857-1. OCLC 620112599.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  10. ^ Borghi, Anna M.; Riggio, Lucia (2009-02-09). "Sentence comprehension and simulation of object temporary, canonical and stable affordances". Brain Research. 1253: 117–128. doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2008.11.064. ISSN 0006-8993. PMID 19073156. S2CID 11461603.
  11. ^ Borghi, Anna M (2004-01-01). "Object concepts and action: Extracting affordances from objects parts". Acta Psychologica. 115 (1): 69–96. doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2003.11.004. ISSN 0001-6918. PMID 14734242.
  12. ^ Borghi, Anna M.; Riggio, Lucia (2015). "Stable and variable affordances are both automatic and flexible". Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 9: 351. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2015.00351. ISSN 1662-5161. PMC 4473001. PMID 26150778.
  13. ^ Borghi, Anna M.; Flumini, Andrea; Natraj, Nikhilesh; Wheaton, Lewis A. (2012-10-01). "One hand, two objects: Emergence of affordance in contexts". Brain and Cognition. 80 (1): 64–73. doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2012.04.007. ISSN 0278-2626. PMID 22634033. S2CID 6056117.
  14. ^ Borghi, Anna M. (2014). Words as social tools : an embodied view applied to abstract concepts. Ferdinand Binkofski. New York. ISBN 978-1-4614-9539-0. OCLC 873949348.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  15. ^ Borghi, Anna M.; Barca, Laura; Binkofski, Ferdinand; Castelfranchi, Cristiano; Pezzulo, Giovanni; Tummolini, Luca (2019-07-01). "Words as social tools: Language, sociality and inner grounding in abstract concepts". Physics of Life Reviews. 29: 120–153. Bibcode:2019PhLRv..29..120B. doi:10.1016/j.plrev.2018.12.001. ISSN 1571-0645. PMID 30573377. S2CID 58542571.
  16. ^ Dove, Guy (2019). "Language influences social cognition". Physics of Life Reviews. 29: 169–171. doi:10.1016/j.plrev.2019.03.007. PMID 30905555. S2CID 85500714.
  17. ^ Falandays, J. Ben; Spivey, Michael J. (2019-07-01). "Abstract meanings may be more dynamic, due to their sociality: Comment on "Words as social tools: Language, sociality and inner grounding in abstract concepts" by Anna M. Borghi et al". Physics of Life Reviews. 29: 175–177. Bibcode:2019PhLRv..29..175F. doi:10.1016/j.plrev.2019.02.011. ISSN 1571-0645. PMID 30857866. S2CID 75136679.
  18. ^ Desai, Rutvik H. (2019-07-01). "Access and content of abstract concepts: Comment on "Words as social tools: Language, sociality, and inner grounding in abstract concepts" by Anna M. Borghi et al". Physics of Life Reviews. 29: 166–168. Bibcode:2019PhLRv..29..166D. doi:10.1016/j.plrev.2019.03.010. ISSN 1571-0645. PMID 30905556. S2CID 85497456.
  19. ^ Glenberg, Arthur M. (2019-07-01). "Turning social tools into tools for action: Comment on "Words as social tools: Language, sociality and inner grounding in abstract concepts" by Anna M. Borghi et al". Physics of Life Reviews. 29: 172–174. Bibcode:2019PhLRv..29..172G. doi:10.1016/j.plrev.2019.02.009. ISSN 1571-0645. PMID 30857867. S2CID 75136726.
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