Understanding and learning with sensorimotor representations

Abstract

The following article proposes a learning model based on the recognition of a sensorimotor basis of mental representations, as demonstrated by the most recent neuroscientific research. The hypothesis is that, even in educational contexts, the comprehension of a text or a concept is linked to the possibility of automatically grasping the "object-purpose relation". We support the idea that level of comprehension is based on the degree of "tuning" created between the perceptual-motor patterns (previously mapped by the subject based on the purpose) and the structure of relation that is caught from the context. We assumed also the involvement of a cognitive mechanism similar to the metaphor, especially when the perceived structure of relation do not coincide with the possessed schemes; the metaphor would act at the neural level, orienting the selection of the sensory-motor patterns that lead to understanding.
We believe that the knowledge of these mechanisms and their implications in learning can provides, to Pedagogical Sciences, a useful research direction for building good teaching practices.