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Creating Virtual-hand and Virtual-face Illusions to Investigate Self-representation
06:53

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Published on: March 1, 2017

Automatic imitation.

Cecilia Heyes1

  • 1All Souls College, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 4AL, England. Cecilia.Heyes@all-souls.ox.ac.uk

Psychological Bulletin
|February 2, 2011
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Automatic imitation, a stimulus-response compatibility effect, shows that people unconsciously copy observed actions. This covert imitation is driven by learned sensorimotor associations, not conscious intent.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Social Psychology
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Automatic imitation is a stimulus-response compatibility effect.
  • It involves task-irrelevant action stimuli influencing responses.
  • It is distinct from spatial compatibility effects.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review research on automatic imitation.
  • To determine the 'automatic' and 'imitation' aspects of this phenomenon.
  • To explore its relation to sensorimotor associations and the mirror neuron system.

Main Methods:

  • Review of behavioral research.
  • Analysis of neurophysiological studies.
  • Examination of neuroimaging data.

Main Results:

  • Automatic imitation is a covert form of imitation.
  • It is modulated by attention and inhibition but not direct intentional processes.
  • It is mediated by learned, long-term sensorimotor associations.

Conclusions:

  • Automatic imitation is a distinct behavioral phenomenon.
  • It provides evidence for unwilled action copying in humans.
  • It serves as a tool to study the mirror neuron system and motor mimicry.