Module 5: Embodied Thinking
James Frye
James Frye
Embodied thinking is, to me, best defined through JJ Gibson in his article, The senses considered as perceptual systems: "The sensibility of the individual to the world adjacent to his body by use of his body" (Gibson, 1966).
The process of body thinking and empathizing is both difficult and simple to examine in the context of reflection. One example of how this concept works with reflection is related to person-to-person contact, or touch. When we touch things, we almost always associate them with an experience at which point we have touched that same thing. For instance, if we contract the muscles in our hands while holding someone else’s, it can serve as a non-verbal, physical indication that the moment is particularly important to the other person and should be remembered for later reflection—or, perhaps more accurately, reminiscing. Done enough times, squeezing that person’s hand can become a signal for the importance and/or significance of any given situation two people share at any point in time because the squeeze becomes, in a Pavlovian manner, associated with significant experiences.
Having written many poems and outlines for prior Modules, I chose to go with a photograph to articulate my embodiment this time around. This photograph best captures my thought process outlined above on how reflection can be felt and inspired through body thinking. Where the outdoors plays an obvious role in the scenario I have presented, the significance of the moment is signaled through haptic sensations.
Haptic perception occurs when people or objects that are evoke ideas recognized through touch. As discussed in the lesson, haptic perception relies on a fusion of somatosensory perception (recognizing variations such as texture, etc. in objects and people) and proprioception (hand position and conformation in relationship to the person/object). The concept of haptic perception maps well to my topic of reflection, because it provides definition for the relationship between physical, body-and-muscle-initiated experiences that can be reflected upon by touching or feeling those same things again following those experiences.
Body thinking is a great way to engage students (adults and children alike) into thinking about their experiences in new and profound ways. If they utilize haptic perceptions to re-envision their memories for a journal entry or an activity that requires application of prior knowledge, this has the potential to aid the process of reflection and narrow down ideas behind their experience that were not obvious before a sensory-specific analysis.
The process of body thinking and empathizing is both difficult and simple to examine in the context of reflection. One example of how this concept works with reflection is related to person-to-person contact, or touch. When we touch things, we almost always associate them with an experience at which point we have touched that same thing. For instance, if we contract the muscles in our hands while holding someone else’s, it can serve as a non-verbal, physical indication that the moment is particularly important to the other person and should be remembered for later reflection—or, perhaps more accurately, reminiscing. Done enough times, squeezing that person’s hand can become a signal for the importance and/or significance of any given situation two people share at any point in time because the squeeze becomes, in a Pavlovian manner, associated with significant experiences.
Having written many poems and outlines for prior Modules, I chose to go with a photograph to articulate my embodiment this time around. This photograph best captures my thought process outlined above on how reflection can be felt and inspired through body thinking. Where the outdoors plays an obvious role in the scenario I have presented, the significance of the moment is signaled through haptic sensations.
Haptic perception occurs when people or objects that are evoke ideas recognized through touch. As discussed in the lesson, haptic perception relies on a fusion of somatosensory perception (recognizing variations such as texture, etc. in objects and people) and proprioception (hand position and conformation in relationship to the person/object). The concept of haptic perception maps well to my topic of reflection, because it provides definition for the relationship between physical, body-and-muscle-initiated experiences that can be reflected upon by touching or feeling those same things again following those experiences.
Body thinking is a great way to engage students (adults and children alike) into thinking about their experiences in new and profound ways. If they utilize haptic perceptions to re-envision their memories for a journal entry or an activity that requires application of prior knowledge, this has the potential to aid the process of reflection and narrow down ideas behind their experience that were not obvious before a sensory-specific analysis.