Abstract
Recent theories on abstract concepts and words (ACs), such as Words As social Tools (WAT)
(Borghi et al., 2019b) and Language is an Embodied Neuroenhancement and Scaffold (LENS)
(Dove, 2019) have underlined the crucial role of both sensorimotor experience and language for
ACs representation and use [see Dove et al. (2020), for a comparison]. Here we focus on the
WAT view. WAT highlights the role of language, sociality, and inner grounding (interoception,
metacognition) for ACs. Furthermore, WAT seeks to integrate a developmental perspective with
approaches focusing on conceptual use and brain representation. We briefly illustrate evidence
coming from both clinical and non-clinical populations and identify areas where additional
evidence that ACs evoke linguistic, social, and interoceptive experience is still needed.