Citation

Liepelt R, Prinz W, Brass M. Cognition 2010; 115(3): 426-434.

Affiliation

Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Psychology, Leipzig, Germany.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.cognition.2010.03.003

PMID

20356576

Abstract

There is strong evidence that we automatically simulate observed behavior in our motor system. Previous research suggests that this simulation process depends on whether we observe a human or a non-human agent. Measuring a motor priming effect, this study investigated the question of whether agent-sensitivity of motor simulation depends on the specific action observed. Participants saw pictures depicting end positions of different actions on a screen. All postures featured either a human or non-human agent. Participants had to produce the matching action with their left or right hand depending on the hand presented on the screen. Three different actions were displayed: a communicative action (emblem), a transitive (goal-directed) action and an intransitive action. We found motor priming effects of similar size for human and non-human agents for transitive and intransitive actions. However, the motor priming effect for communicative actions was present for the human agent, but absent for the non-human agent. These findings suggest that biological tuning of motor simulation is highly action-selective and depends on whether the observed behavior appears to be driven by a reasonable goal.

Language: en