title: The role of attention in a joint-action effect.
abstract: The most common explanation for joint-action effects has been the action co-representation account in which observation of another's action is represented within one's own action system. However, recent evidence has shown that the most prominent of these joint-action effects (i.e., the Social Simon effect), can occur when no co-actor is present. In the current work we examined whether another joint-action phenomenon (a movement congruency effect) can be induced when a participant performs their part of the task with a different effector to that of their co-actor and when a co-actor's action is replaced by an attention-capturing luminance signal. Contrary to what is predicted by the action co-representation account, results show that the basic movement congruency effect occurred in both situations. These findings challenge the action co-representation account of this particular effect and suggest instead that it is driven by bottom-up mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Essex, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Silviya P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Doneva
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Essex, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Geoff G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Cole
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D017004:Codependency, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time