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Automatic imitation and spatial compatibility in a key-pressing task.

Luis Jiménez1, Sergio Recio, Amavia Méndez

  • 1Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain. luis.jimenez@usc.es

Acta Psychologica
|August 7, 2012
PubMed
Summary

Automatic imitation effects are often masked by spatial compatibility. New methods using rotated scenes and anatomical controls help reveal true automatic imitation, especially in practiced tasks like key-pressing.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Social Psychology

Background:

  • Automatic imitation is often confounded with spatial compatibility effects.
  • Previous research criteria for assessing automatic imitation using the human mirror system have been proposed.
  • Studies often use unfamiliar movements; this research investigates practiced actions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To test if automatic imitation effects can be obtained with a practiced key-pressing task.
  • To address the confound between automatic imitation and spatial compatibility.
  • To evaluate the utility of rotated scenes and anatomical controls in assessing automatic imitation.

Main Methods:

  • Experiment 1: Used anatomical controls (views of right vs. left hands) with mirror imitation conditions.
  • Experiment 2: Employed rotated conditions to control for spatial-anatomical confounds.
  • Both experiments involved a key-pressing task.

Main Results:

  • Spatial compatibility masked automatic imitation effects in Experiment 1.
  • Experiment 2 revealed unequivocal automatic imitation effects, independent of spatial stimulus-response mapping.
  • The findings suggest limitations in studies relying solely on mirror perspectives.

Conclusions:

  • Spatial compatibility can obscure automatic imitation, particularly in practiced tasks.
  • Using rotated scenes and anatomical controls is crucial for accurately assessing automatic imitation.
  • This methodology clarifies the role of the human mirror system in automatic imitation.