Research on embodied cognition acknowledges that cognitive processing is tightly coupled with bodily activities and the environment. An important implication for education is that learning can be enhanced when the brain, body, and environment mutually influence each other, such as when making or observing human actions, especially those involving hand gestures and manipulation of objects. In this narrative review article, we describe the evidence from six research avenues that can help explain why embodied cognition can enhance learning and instruction. Through the exploration of these six interconnected research pathways, we aim to make a significant contribution by proposing innovative directions for learning and instruction research, all rooted in the principles of embodied cognition. We establish a direct link between the six research pathways and embodied phenomena, both in the contexts of making and observing human movements. When making human movements, the research avenues explaining the learning benefits due to these movements are physical activity, generative learning, and offloaded cognition. When observing human movements, the avenues researching these phenomena are specialized processor and signaling. Lastly, the research avenue social cognition is integral to both making and observing human movements. With originality in focus, we also include research that has not been traditionally associated with embodied cognition or embodiment. This article offers comprehensive discussions, substantiated with evidence and influencing features, for each of these research avenues. We conclude by outlining the implications of these findings for instruction and charting potential directions for future investigation.

具身认知研究承认认知过程与身体活动和环境紧密相关。对教育的一个重要意义是，当大脑、身体和环境相互影响时，例如在做出或观察人类行为时，尤其是涉及手势和物体操作的行为时，学习可以得到加强。在这篇叙述性评论文章中，我们描述了来自六个研究途径的证据，这些证据可以帮助解释为什么具身认知可以增强学习和教学。通过探索这六个相互关联的研究路径，我们的目标是通过提出学习和教学研究的创新方向来做出重大贡献，所有这些都植根于具身认知的原则。我们在制作和观察人类运动的背景下，在六种研究途径和具体现象之间建立了直接联系。当进行人类运动时，研究途径解释了这些运动带来的学习益处是身体活动、生成学习和卸载认知。在观察人体运动时，研究这些现象的途径是专门的处理器和信号发送。最后，社会认知研究途径对于制作和观察人类运动都是不可或缺的。在关注原创性的同时，我们还纳入了传统上与具身认知或具体化无关的研究。本文对这些研究途径进行了全面的讨论，并提供了证据和影响特征。最后，我们概述了这些发现对指导的影响，并为未来的研究绘制了潜在的方向。