Toward a unified vocabulary for embodiment research challenges and solutions

Peng Wang; Jingming Li; Qian Yu; Liye Zou; Xia Xu; Myrto Mavilidi; Ryan S Falck; Fabian Herold; Robert J Schinke; Markus Raab; Fred Paas

doi:10.1038/s41539-026-00413-x

Toward a unified vocabulary for embodiment research challenges and solutions

Peng Wang, Jingming Li, Qian Yu, Liye Zou, Xia Xu, Myrto Mavilidi, Ryan S Falck, Fabian Herold, Robert J Schinke, Markus Raab, …

NPJ science of learning, Vol.First online(1)

20/03/2026

: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-026-00413-x

: 41862503

(1)

url

Toward a unified vocabulary

Published (Version of record)

Embodiment resrearch spans psychology, neuroscience, education, artificial intelligence, and public health, yet overlapping labels and shifting meanings slow cumulative progress. We propose clear definitions, concise labels, and consistent terminology to strengthen theory-building, evidence synthesis, and translation to practice. We call for a white-paper-style consensus process involving cross-disciplinary working groups to develop a shared living glossary of core embodiment terminology that makes overlap and divergence explicit without enforcing theoretical uniformity.

: Toward a unified vocabulary for embodiment research challenges and solutions
: Peng Wang - Wuhan Sports University
Jingming Li - Wuhan Sports University
Qian Yu - Wuhan Sports University
Liye Zou - Wuhan Sports University
Xia Xu - Wuhan Sports University
Myrto Mavilidi - Southern Cross University
Ryan S Falck - The University of British Columbia (Canada, BC)
Fabian Herold - HMU Health and Medical University Erfurt (Germany)
Robert J Schinke - Laurentian University
Markus Raab - German Sport University Cologne
Fred Paas - Erasmus University Rotterdam
: NPJ science of learning, Vol.First online(1)
: Nature
: This work was supported by the China Scholarship Council Program (Project ID: 202208060121), Shenzhen Educational Research Funding (grant no. zdzb2014), the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission Foundation (grant no. 202307313000096), the Social Science Foundation from China’s Ministry of Education (grant no. 23YJA880093), the Science and Technology Innovation Projects of the State General Administration of Sports (23KJCX057), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant no 2022 M711174), the National Center for Mental Health Foundation (grant no. Z014), Research Excellence Scholarships of Shenzhen University (grant no. ZYZD2305), Research Funding for Society of Sport Science (grant no PT2023030), the Natural Science Foundation of Shenzhen University (grant no. 000311), and the Guangdong Youth Health Research Fund (grant no 2024WT006).
: 991013365461302368
: Faculty of Education
: English
: Journal article