How Brain's 'Mirrors' Aid Our Social Understanding

This means that at least some aspects of language may be rooted in a very physical understanding of the world, the way we see and touch and feel things. It helps address a long-standing puzzle about language: How do we understand what words mean? If words are defined only by other words, what does the whole deck of cards rest on?

The new research suggests that language may depend at least in part on representations in the brain of the physical world, a much more concrete way to conceptualize language. When we hear words, we essentially act out their meanings in our own minds.