Combinatory Schema and Embodied Metaphor

December 27th, 2006 Fred McVittie Posted in Cognition, Gist, Metaphor |

Complex behaviour often entails the mobilisation of a number of physical schema simultaneously, as for example when one is walking and juggling at the same time, or, more commonly, when one is talking and also physically displaying emotion through smiling, crying etc. The combination of such schema, which may be seen as complementary or competing, contributes to the overall performance which is taking place. On a cognitive level, this combination suggests that several ‘gists’ (fuzzy traces, scripts, schemata etc) are also in operation simultaneously, all of which are constructed through metaphor.