Journal Publications
Technology may change cognition without necessarily harming it
Nature Human Behaviour
Cecutti, Lorenzo, Chemero, Anthony, and Lee, Spike W. S., (2021)
What is the long-term impact of technological advances on cognitive abilities? We critically examine relevant findings and argue that there is no clear evidence for detrimental lasting effects of digital technology on cognitive abilities. But we also suggest how digital technology may be changing predominant ways of cognition.
Press Coverage:
The Conversation, Nautilus, Yahoo!News, Sciencedaily
Physical Firmness Increases Structural Alignment
Scientific Research
Cecutti, Lorenzo and Lee, Spike W. S., (2022)
Raising one's jammed fist is not just a common pictorial representation of struggle against the establishment but turns out to reflect a deeper connection between sensorimotor states and beliefs. The present research investigated how physical firmness, manipulated through muscle tightening, might shape beliefs. The central hypothesis, structural alignment, was tested against two other competing predictions: content extremity and content matching. Three studies provided evidence supporting structural alignment but not content matching or extremity. Specifically, the correlation between intelligence and personality lay beliefs (Studies 1–2), and the correlation between individualizing and binding moral foundations (Study 3) increased when participants jammed their fist (Study 1) or clenched their jaw (Studies 2–3). These effects emerged in the absence of mean-level differences (which would have reflected content matching or extremity). Moreover, they did not seem attributable to response bias or tiredness. An additional study suggested decent rates of compliance with experimental instructions that were comparable between conditions. Overall, sensorimotor experiences such as physical firmness can align higher-order cognitions such as beliefs in ways that are distinct from prior demonstrations of embodied cognition effects.
Book Chapters
Three mechanisms of mind–body influence: Feelings, concepts, and procedures
APA handbook of consumer psychology
Lee, Spike W. S. and Cecutti, Lorenzo, (2022)
This chapter discusses various modalities of the body and their tractable interplay with mental processes. It addresses a few broad questions: What versions of mind–body influence exist? Which versions are more controversial and which less so? What is their overall theoretical significance?; What are the major theoretical frameworks that describe and explain mind–body influence? What are their strengths and weaknesses?; What mechanisms underlie mind–body influence? How do they operate? What are their conditions? What predictions do they make?; and What are some exciting future directions? The chapter reviews illustrative work, mostly experimental, that provides causal evidence. It offers a theoretical treatment and multiprocess model. The author submits that three proximate mechanisms underlie mind–body influence: feelings, concepts, and procedures. They can interact (e.g., feelings triggered by concepts), but they can also operate in tandem. By unpacking these mechanisms, the authors facilitate empirical and theoretical advances. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
Social Cognition Is Grounded in Physical Reality
The Oxford Handbook of Social Cognition
Cecutti, Lorenzo and Lee, Spike W. S., (2024)
Mind and body form an inseparable system. To paint a full picture of social cognition, it is thus necessary to understand the body’s role in coloring the mind. Grounded cognition highlights bodily states, modal simulations, and situated action in cognitive processes. This chapter discusses the utility of grounded cognition in comprehending social cognitive processes. It reviews six key theories: conceptual metaphors, perceptual symbol systems, situated action, facial and proprioceptive feedback, somatic marker hypothesis, and grounded procedures. It delves into illustrative findings relevant to priming, accessibility, social perception, behavior, evaluative and cognitive processes, mood, and emotion. Finally, it broadens the focus of grounded cognition from the physical body ("embodied cognition") to the physical environment and tools within it ("distributed cognition"). A fully contextualized model of social cognition requires delineation of the cognitive loops among mind, body, and the social and physical realities they operate in.