BallaB

Body Action Language LAB

Lab Anna Borghi

Mission

We study the relationship between objects, concepts, language, and sensory and bodily experiences. We approach this using mainly laboratory studies and interactive ecological methods (behavioral studies, kinematics, eye-tracking), and occasionally neuroscientific techniques (TMS, thermal camera, EEG, and fMRI), and computer simulations (neural networks, robotics). We study adults and children, spanning from typical to atypical development populations.

(Versione italiana sul sito di Sapienza qui: https://web.uniroma1.it/dip42/node/6050)

Objects and action (affordances).

We are interested in: * how we respond to the “invites to action” that the objects offer to us (affordances); * how we respond to objects when in the presence of other people (social affordances); * how we respond to actions of others, either through automatic imitation (motor resonance) or complementary actions.

Concepts and categorization.

We are interested in: * the role of action, function, and motion in forming concepts; * the relationship between concepts and the words that designate them; * the flexibility of the human conceptual system and its variability across cultures, languages, and individuals with different experiences.

Abstract concepts.

We are interested in how we acquire, represent, and use abstract concepts, such as "freedom" and "fantasy". We have proposed the WAT (Words As social Tools) theory, according to which social, linguistic, and inner input is more crucial for abstract than concrete concepts.

Language grounding and impact of language on cognition.

We are interested in: * the relationship between language, sensorimotor system, interoception, and emotions; * how language influences cognition; * inner speech; * how different languages and cultures shape concepts; * interactive methods to study language.