title: Joint-action coordination in transferring objects.
abstract: Here we report a study of joint-action coordination in transferring objects. Fourteen dyads were asked to repeatedly reposition a cylinder in a shared workspace without using dialogue. Variations in task constraints concerned the size of the two target regions in which the cylinder had to be (re)positioned and the size and weight of the transferred cylinder. Movements of the wrist, index finger and thumb of both actors were recorded by means of a 3D motion-tracking system. Data analyses focused on the interpersonal transfer of lifting-height and movement-speed variations. Whereas the analyses of variance did not reveal any interpersonal transfer effects targeted data comparisons demonstrated that the actor who fetched the cylinder from where the other actor had put it was systematically less surprised by cylinder-weight changes than the actor who was first confronted with such changes. In addition, a moderate, accuracy-constraint independent adaptation to each other's movement speed was found. The current findings suggest that motor resonance plays only a moderate role in collaborative motor control and confirm the independency between sensorimotor and cognitive processing of action-related information.
authors.affiliation: Nijmegen Institute for Cognition and Information, Radboud University Nijmegen, PO Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands. r.meulenbroek@nici.ru.nl
authors.forename: Ruud G J
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Meulenbroek
authors.forename: Jurjen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bosga
authors.forename: Majken
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hulstijn
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miedl
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005260:Female; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007596:Joints / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D009141:Musculoskeletal System; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D014163:Transfer, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*