Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, United Kingdom.
Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, United Kingdom.
Cognition. 2018 Apr;173:21-27. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.12.008. Epub 2017 Dec 27.
Perception during action is optimized by sensory predictions about the likely consequences of our movements. Influential theories in social cognition propose that we use the same predictions during interaction, supporting perception of similar reactions in our social partners. However, while our own action outcomes typically occur at short, predictable delays after movement execution, the reactions of others occur at longer, variable delays in the order of seconds. To examine whether we use sensorimotor predictions to support perception of imitative reactions, we therefore investigated the temporal profile of sensory prediction during action in two psychophysical experiments. We took advantage of an influence of prediction on apparent intensity, whereby predicted visual stimuli appear brighter (more intense). Participants performed actions (e.g., index finger lift) and rated the brightness of observed outcomes congruent (index finger lift) or incongruent (middle finger lift) with their movements. Observed action outcomes could occur immediately after execution, or at longer delays likely reflective of those in natural social interaction (1800 or 3600 ms). Consistent with the previous literature, Experiment 1 revealed that congruent action outcomes were rated as brighter than incongruent outcomes. Importantly, this facilitatory perceptual effect was found irrespective of whether outcomes occurred immediately or at delay. Experiment 2 replicated this finding and demonstrated that it was not the result of response bias. These findings therefore suggest that visual predictions generated during action are sufficiently general across time to support our perception of imitative reactions in others, likely generating a range of benefits during social interaction.
在行动过程中的感知是通过对我们运动可能结果的感官预测来优化的。在社会认知中有影响力的理论提出，我们在互动中使用相同的预测，支持对我们社交伙伴的类似反应的感知。然而，虽然我们自己的行动结果通常在运动执行后很短的、可预测的延迟后发生，但其他人的反应发生在更长的、可变量的延迟中，大约在几秒钟的顺序。为了研究我们是否使用运动预测来支持对模仿反应的感知，我们因此在两个心理物理实验中研究了运动过程中感觉预测的时间分布。我们利用了预测对表观强度的影响，即预测的视觉刺激看起来更亮（更强烈）。参与者执行动作（例如，食指抬起），并对观察到的结果的亮度进行评分，与他们的动作一致（食指抬起）或不一致（中指抬起）。观察到的动作结果可以在执行后立即发生，也可以在更长的延迟时间内发生，这可能反映了自然社会互动中的延迟（1800 或 3600ms）。与先前的文献一致，实验 1 表明，与不一致的结果相比，一致的动作结果被评为更亮。重要的是，这种促进感知的效果无论结果是否立即出现还是延迟出现都存在。实验 2 复制了这一发现，并表明这不是反应偏差的结果。因此，这些发现表明，在行动过程中生成的视觉预测在时间上足够普遍，可以支持我们对他人模仿反应的感知，这可能在社交互动中产生一系列好处。
