Embodied attention: Going beyond the office worker posture.

Abstract

Current cognitive theories cast attention as a perceptual selection mechanism, largely neglecting the role of the body. We advance an embodied account, proposing that hand position, posture and action readiness systematically shape attentional performance. After outlining the historical shift from selection for perception to selection for action, we sketch a grounded, embodied and situated account of attention. We then review evidence from classic paradigms (Posner, Eriksen, Egly, Stroop), showing that attention signatures (detection, interference, selection, control) are systematically modulated by action readiness, and argue that the traditional 'office-worker' posture underlying these paradigms may have shaped how attention itself has been theoretically conceptualized. We discuss how action-linked visual processes and bodily contributions to cognitive control account for attention modulation and address reliability and contextual challenges. Finally, we propose to integrate physiological measures, motor states and real-world contexts into future research on embodied attention with the aim of eventually reframing attention as a functional enactive process. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).