Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognition, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2011 Oct;37(5):1407-19. doi: 10.1037/a0024672.
According to ideomotor theories, perceiving action effects produced by others triggers corresponding action representations in the observer. We tested whether this principle extends to actions performed by externally controlled limbs and tools. Participants performed a go-no-go version of a spatial compatibility task in which their own actions resulted in the movement of a limb or tool, whereas a second, externally controlled limb or tool was seen performing a complementary go-no-go task. Spatial compatibility effects, indicating inclusion of the externally controlled effector in action planning, were observed when the externally controlled limb was identical to the controlled limb (Experiment 1) and when actions of limbs and tools (Experiment 2) or pairs of tools (Experiment 3 and 4) were combined according to participants' motor experience. When participants acted together, controlling a tool each, spatial compatibility effects occurred regardless of motor experience (Experiment 5). These findings demonstrate that (a) externally controlled tool actions are included in action planning and (b) social context modulates how externally controlled actions are mapped onto action representations. Implications of these findings for theories of perception-action links and object processing are discussed.
根据运动表象理论，观察者感知到他人产生的动作效果会引发相应的动作表象。我们测试了这一原理是否适用于由外部控制的肢体和工具执行的动作。参与者在空间兼容性任务的一种 Go-No-Go 版本中进行操作，他们自己的动作会导致肢体或工具的运动，而第二个外部控制的肢体或工具则被视为执行互补的 Go-No-Go 任务。当外部控制的肢体与受控肢体相同时（实验 1），以及当肢体和工具的动作（实验 2）或工具对（实验 3 和 4）根据参与者的运动经验组合时，会观察到空间兼容性效应，表明外部控制的效应器被包含在动作规划中。当参与者一起行动，各自控制一个工具时（实验 5），无论运动经验如何，都会出现空间兼容性效应。这些发现表明：(a) 外部控制的工具动作被包含在动作规划中；(b) 社会背景调节了如何将外部控制的动作映射到动作表象上。讨论了这些发现对感知-动作联系和物体处理理论的意义。
