A Study on Factoids from Perspective of Embodied Cognition

Abstract

Factoids—false but seemingly true information—are widely disseminated in communication, particularly through poems. Despite their ubiquity, their cognitive processing remains understudied. Giving that typical factoids are often presented in the poems. This study attempts to explore how factoids are invented and how factoids relate to representational act and mental states from perspective of embodied cognition through a qualitative content analysis of typical poem lines. The findings of the study show that inventing a factoid is indeed a representational act, involving integrating the selection, construction, transformation, and intentional communication of imaginative information. Representational acts bridge the gap between the internal constructs of our minds and the external world. These findings have implications for education, critical thinking.