Physical imitation and verbal description of modeled movements engage different encoding processes

The present study analyzed the effects of performing a specified sequence of movements in imitation of a model, and examined the characteristics of the encoding involved in the process. Thirty-two college students were presented with a movement model that consisted of five elements and performed imitation tasks in which they either reproduced the movement sequence physically or described it verbally. During the period from the onset of the movement model to the imitation response, participants performed articulation suppression, movement suppression, and spatial suppression tasks, and their effects on the imitation response were analyzed. The results showed that the encoding processes for conversion to movement and to language were different, and that movements associated with articulations or planning of articulations and spatial processing were involved in converting the model to movement. In addition, imitation-specific goal selection was partially supported in movement conversion, but not in language conversion.