The most « foundational » concept of cognitive linguistics « image schema » is highly polysemous. Different researchers use the term to refer to very different phenomena : nerural circuits, patterns of interaction, sensorimotor couplings, pre-verbal concepts, formats, mental representations, and even language-based concepts. In my talk I will distinguish 6 dimensions along which different accounts vary : representationality, consciousness, modality, abstractness, dynamicity and subjectivity , and characterise *mimetic schemas* (Zlatev 2005) as one particular set of values along these dimensions.
