When Pinocchio acts like a human, a wooden hand becomes embodied. Action co-representation for non-biological agents.
Action observation automatically activates corresponding motor representations in the observer, which is essential in coordinating actions with others. It is assumed that this co-representation system is activated by biological agents only. However, we often identify with biological agents, whereas this is not the case for non-biological agents. The present study investigated whether action co-representation depends on the perceived animacy of the non-biological interaction partner. Before performing a joint Simon task with either an animated image of a human or a wooden hand, participants either watched a video fragment of a biological agent, or of a non-biological agent, Pinocchio, to increase perceived animacy of this agent. Whereas participants who watched the 'biological' agent showed a Simon effect only when co-acting with a biological agent, participants who watched 'non-biological' agent (i.e. Pinocchio) showed a Simon effect only when co-acting with a non-biological agent. The present findings provide evidence for the assumption that motor simulation strongly depends on higher order processes.
Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, PO Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: B.Muller@psych.ru.nl.
Barbara C N
BCN
Müller
Ghent University, Department of Experimental Psychology, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
Marcel
M
Brass
Ghent University, Department of Experimental Psychology, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
Simone
S
Kühn
Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, PO Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Chia-Chin
CC
Tsai
Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, PO Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Wieteke
W
Nieuwboer
Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, PO Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Ap
A
Dijksterhuis
Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, PO Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Rick B
RB
van Baaren
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult