title: Imitation and matching of meaningless gestures: distinct involvement from motor and visual imagery.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to understand the underlying cognitive processes of imitation and matching of meaningless gestures. Neuropsychological evidence obtained in brain damaged patients, has shown that distinct cognitive processes supported imitation and matching of meaningless gestures. Left-brain damaged (LBD) patients failed to imitate while right-brain damaged (RBD) patients failed to match meaningless gestures. Moreover, other studies with brain damaged patients showed that LBD patients were impaired in motor imagery while RBD patients were impaired in visual imagery. Thus, we hypothesize that imitation of meaningless gestures might rely on motor imagery, whereas matching of meaningless gestures might be based on visual imagery. In a first experiment, using a correlational design, we demonstrated that posture imitation relies on motor imagery but not on visual imagery (Experiment 1a) and that posture matching relies on visual imagery but not on motor imagery (Experiment 1b). In a second experiment, by manipulating directly the body posture of the participants, we demonstrated that such manipulation evokes a difference only in imitation task but not in matching task. In conclusion, the present study provides direct evidence that the way we imitate or we have to compare postures depends on motor imagery or visual imagery, respectively. Our results are discussed in the light of recent findings about underlying mechanisms of meaningful and meaningless gestures.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Étude des Mécanismes Cognitifs (EA 3082), Institut de Psychologie, Université Lyon 2, 5, avenue Pierre Mendès-France, 69676, Bron Cedex, France. mathieu.lesourd@chu-lyon.fr.
authors.forename: Mathieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lesourd
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Étude des Mécanismes Cognitifs (EA 3082), Institut de Psychologie, Université Lyon 2, 5, avenue Pierre Mendès-France, 69676, Bron Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Jordan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Psychologie des Pays de la Loire (EA 4638), Université d'Angers, Angers, France.
authors.forename: Josselin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Baumard
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Psychologie des Pays de la Loire (EA 4638), Université d'Angers, Angers, France.|Unité de Neuropsychologie, Département de Neurologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire d'Angers, Angers, France.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jarry
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Psychologie des Pays de la Loire (EA 4638), Université d'Angers, Angers, France.|Unité de Neuropsychologie, Département de Neurologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire d'Angers, Angers, France.
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Le Gall
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Étude des Mécanismes Cognitifs (EA 3082), Institut de Psychologie, Université Lyon 2, 5, avenue Pierre Mendès-France, 69676, Bron Cedex, France.|Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Osiurak
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005868:Gestures; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011187:Posture; D055815:Young Adult