title: Are automatic imitation and spatial compatibility mediated by different processes?
abstract: Automatic imitation or "imitative compatibility" is thought to be mediated by the mirror neuron system and to be a laboratory model of the motor mimicry that occurs spontaneously in naturalistic social interaction. Imitative compatibility and spatial compatibility effects are known to depend on different stimulus dimensions-body movement topography and relative spatial position. However, it is not yet clear whether these two types of stimulus-response compatibility effect are mediated by the same or different cognitive processes. We present an interactive activation model of imitative and spatial compatibility, based on a dual-route architecture, which substantiates the view they are mediated by processes of the same kind. The model, which is in many ways a standard application of the interactive activation approach, simulates all key results of a recent study by Catmur and Heyes (2011). Specifically, it captures the difference in the relative size of imitative and spatial compatibility effects; the lack of interaction when the imperative and irrelevant stimuli are presented simultaneously; the relative speed of responses in a quintile analysis when the imperative and irrelevant stimuli are presented simultaneously; and the different time courses of the compatibility effects when the imperative and irrelevant stimuli are presented asynchronously.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London WC1E 7HX, UK. r.cooper@bbk.ac.uk
authors.forename: Richard P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Catmur
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Heyes
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D059167:Mirror Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*