Embodied processing during social interactions: From a perspective of self-other shared representation

Abstract

<p indent="0mm">In interpersonal situations, a person perceives the social scene not only from an egocentric (self-centered) perspective but also from an altercentric (other-centered) perspective. Research on embodied cognition indicates that one important way to achieve mutual understanding in social interactions is embodied processing, during which people read a wealth of bodily information from others, and make use of such information to effectively interpret their behaviors, emotions, and mental states. Although “embodied processing” has been widely implied in various social processes and is crucial to successful social cognition, there has been a lack of clarity regarding this concept, and a mechanical understanding of how bodily information is used in such processing remains unclear. In this paper, we reviewed relevant literature on embodied processing with an emphasis on analyzing its possible mechanisms. We first reviewed the concept of embodiment, based on which we highlighted a hierarchical understanding of embodied processing. At the neurophysiological level, existing theories and empirical studies indicate self-other shared representation as the foundation for “embodied” understanding of others and the Mirror Neuron system as the neural basis of such shared representation. Specifically, social interactions evoke the internal representations of the observer’s body states, which are associated with others’ expressions, actions, or mental states, as if the individual was going through the same psychological experience simultaneously. We then summarized the brain regions and neural connections of the shared representations. Instead of one unified system, there are two processing levels when it comes to representing self-other interactions. The lower level is activated in situations when we execute and imitate others’ actions, and the higher level is activated when reasoning and emotional components are involved, while the brain regions in charge of these levels are also highly interconnected. As the core neural foundation for embodied processing in social interactions, such evidence of shared self-other representation has been from or implied in social cognition research that focuses on three different aspects: behavior, emotion, and mentalization. Therefore, we reviewed research focusing on these aspects, specifically, behavioral imitation, empathy, and emotional mimicry, as well as perceptual perspective-taking, to scrutinize the understanding of embodied processing. In behavior imitation research, the observation of other people’s physical movements and postures is considered the basis of imitating actions, as such bodily information—Especially bodily representations—Is deeply engaged in the relevant social processing. Observation and imitation have also been considered as the stage in which embodied processing occurs. The embodied characteristic of behavioral imitation serves as a foundation of other important social cognitive functions. For example, the process of empathy is inseparable from the observation and identification of other people’s facial expressions and emotional physical states. Similarly, in visual perspective-taking, one may mentally project their bodily self to the agent’s physical location and seemingly experience direct visual input from the corresponding perspective, as the agent does. These reviewed studies jointly highlight that underlying shared self-other representation allows for approaching other minds in an embodied manner. It enables individuals to make full use of their own experience and knowledge, and achieve social understanding directly and effortlessly. However, behavioral mechanisms of embodied processing, for example, in empathy or perspective-taking, are largely understudied. Another potential limitation is that social interactions in research have often been simplified. The field could benefit from more ecological contexts in the research design. In conclusion, we combined different research and experimental evidence to bring out a general neural mechanism of embodied processing in social interactions. Our review helps to extend current knowledge of the nature of “understanding others” and offers insights as well as future directions on relevant social cognition research.