Beyond simple laboratory studies, toward interactive methods: Commentary on the review article: Beyond simple laboratory studies: Developing sophisticated models to study rich behavior

The paper “Beyond simple laboratory studies: Developing sophisticated models to study rich behavior” [1] is, in our view, very timely and important. We fully agree with the authors’ claim that we should aim at studying “rich” natural behaviors beyond simple laboratory studies, and we appreciate that the authors provided concrete examples of new methods in various areas, including psychology, neuroscience, robotics, ethology, and sport analytics. In our commentary, after some general considerations, we focus on the difficulties in implementing new methods; then, we introduce some examples from the areas of semantic memory, particularly conceptualization, where new methods able to reflect “rich” behaviors are, in our view, particularly crucial. We conclude by arguing that new methods are essential also because of the significant influence social interaction plays in cognition.