Embodied Knowledge – Embodied Memory

What is it about?

The distinction between representational and embodied knowledge (knowing that versus knowing how) has been gaining new significance through the investigation of implicit memory. This kind of memory is formed as an organism and its environment interact over time: Recurring patterns of interaction are sedimented in the form of sensorimotor as well as affect-motor schemes. We may speak of an implicit “body memory” that underlies our habits and skills, connecting body and environment through cycles of perception and action. This embodied knowledge is actualized in appropriate situations or through overarching volitional acts, without necessarily being made explicit. The paper analyses the structure of embodied knowledge and its acquisition in early childhood, in particular with regard to intercorporeal memory and its impairment in autistic spectrum disorders.

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