title: Eye movements may cause motor contagion effects.
abstract: When a person executes a movement, the movement is more errorful while observing another person's actions that are incongruent rather than congruent with the executed action. This effect is known as "motor contagion". Accounts of this effect are often grounded in simulation mechanisms: increased movement error emerges because the motor codes associated with observed actions compete with motor codes of the goal action. It is also possible, however, that the increased movement error is linked to eye movements that are executed simultaneously with the hand movement because oculomotor and manual-motor systems are highly interconnected. In the present study, participants performed a motor contagion task in which they executed horizontal arm movements while observing a model making either vertical (incongruent) or horizontal (congruent) movements under three conditions: no instruction, maintain central fixation, or track the model's hand with the eyes. A significant motor contagion-like effect was only found in the 'track' condition. Thus, 'motor contagion' in the present task may be an artifact of simultaneously executed incongruent eye movements. These data are discussed in the context of stimulation and associative learning theories, and raise eye movements as a critical methodological consideration for future work on motor contagion.
authors: Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, 55 Harbord St, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 2W6. merryndconstable@gmail.com.|Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 2W6. merryndconstable@gmail.com.
authors: Merryn D
authors: MD
authors: Constable
authors: Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, 55 Harbord St, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 2W6.
authors: John
authors: J
authors: de Grosbois
authors: Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, 55 Harbord St, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 2W6.
authors: Tiffany
authors: T
authors: Lung
authors: Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, 55 Harbord St, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 2W6.
authors: Luc
authors: L
authors: Tremblay
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 2W6.|Centre for Motor Control, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 2W6.
authors: Jay
authors: J
authors: Pratt
authors: Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, 55 Harbord St, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 2W6.|Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 2W6.|Centre for Motor Control, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 2W6.
authors: Timothy N
authors: TN
authors: Welsh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Action imitation; Eye movements; Joint action; Motor contagion; Simulation theory