title: Stopping movements: when others slow us down.
abstract: Previous research has shown that performing joint actions can lead to the representation of both one's own and others' actions. In the present study we explored the influence of co-representation on response stopping. Are joint actions more difficult to stop than solo actions? Using a variation of the stop-signal task, we found that participants needed more time to stop a planned joint action compared with a planned solo action (Experiment 1). This effect was not observed when participants performed the task in the presence of a passive observer (Experiment 2). A third transcranial magnetic stimulation experiment (Experiment 3) demonstrated that joint stopping recruited a more selective suppression mechanism than solo stopping. Taken together, these results suggest that participants used a global inhibition mechanism when acting alone; however, they recruited a more selective and slower suppression mechanism when acting with someone else.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Psicologia, Centro di Scienza Cognitiva, Università di Torino, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cavallo
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Catmur
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sowden
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ianì
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Becchio
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004576:Electromyography; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007866:Leg / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: action co-representation; joint stopping; motor evoked potentials; transcranial magnetic stimulation