Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, PO Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Ghent University, Department of Experimental Psychology, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
Neuropsychologia. 2011 Apr;49(5):1373-1377. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.01.022. Epub 2011 Jan 15.
Action observation automatically activates corresponding motor representations in the observer, which is essential in coordinating actions with others. It is assumed that this co-representation system is activated by biological agents only. However, we often identify with biological agents, whereas this is not the case for non-biological agents. The present study investigated whether action co-representation depends on the perceived animacy of the non-biological interaction partner. Before performing a joint Simon task with either an animated image of a human or a wooden hand, participants either watched a video fragment of a biological agent, or of a non-biological agent, Pinocchio, to increase perceived animacy of this agent. Whereas participants who watched the 'biological' agent showed a Simon effect only when co-acting with a biological agent, participants who watched 'non-biological' agent (i.e. Pinocchio) showed a Simon effect only when co-acting with a non-biological agent. The present findings provide evidence for the assumption that motor simulation strongly depends on higher order processes.
动作观察会自动激活观察者相应的运动表象，这对于与他人协调动作至关重要。人们假设这种共同表现系统仅由生物制剂激活。然而，我们经常认同生物制剂，而不是非生物制剂。本研究调查了动作共同表现是否取决于非生物交互伙伴的感知能动性。在与人类的动画图像或木制手进行联合西蒙任务之前，参与者要么观看生物制剂的视频片段，要么观看非生物制剂皮诺曹的视频片段，以增加对该制剂的感知能动性。当参与者观看“生物”制剂时，只有当与生物制剂共同作用时才会出现西蒙效应，而当参与者观看“非生物”制剂（即皮诺曹）时，只有当与非生物制剂共同作用时才会出现西蒙效应。本研究结果为运动模拟强烈依赖于更高阶过程的假设提供了证据。
