Embodied Creativity: A Critical Analysis of an Underdeveloped Subject

While the idea that cognition is embodied appeared in the literature more than four decades ago, studies concerned with how and to what degree might the body and the environment influence creative thinking represent a relatively recent scientific endeavor. In this paper we wish to provide a critical examination of the core ideas of this new field, suggesting new experimental paradigms for testing the more radical and often ignored assertions of the embodied cognition program. We conclude that given the extremely small number of papers that are produced on this subject, as well as its obscurity within the scientific community, future research will have to expand its theoretical considerations greatly if the field is to survive and flourish.