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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 10, 2026

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

Published on: July 16, 2015

Attentional distraction, μ-suppression and empathic perspective-taking.

C Chad Woodruff¹, Shelley Klein

¹Department of Psychology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA. chad.woodruff@nau.edu

Experimental Brain Research

|June 29, 2013

Summary

Social mirroring, measured by mu-suppression (μ-suppression), requires focused attention to engage the mirror neuron system. Simply observing actions without attention, like during word generation tasks, eliminates this neural response.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Psychology
Social Cognition

Background:

Social mirroring theory suggests automatic simulation of observed actions via the motor system.
Automaticity implies mirror system engagement regardless of attention when observing actions.
Previous research has not fully tested the role of attention in mirror system activation.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if attentional distraction affects mu-suppression (μ-suppression), an EEG measure of mirror neuron activity.
To determine if observing actions without focused attention is sufficient to activate the mirror system.
To replicate the correlation between μ-suppression and empathic perspective-taking.

Main Methods:

Participants watched videos of hand actions under three conditions: no distraction, mental imagery distraction, and word generation distraction.
Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to measure μ-suppression.
Self-report measures assessed empathic perspective-taking.

Main Results:

Typical μ-suppression was observed in the no distraction condition.
Word generation distraction significantly reduced or eliminated μ-suppression.
A negative correlation between μ-suppression and empathic perspective-taking was replicated.

Conclusions:

Focused attention is necessary for μ-suppression during action observation; passive viewing is insufficient.
The findings challenge the notion of fully automatic mirror system engagement.
A theoretical model is proposed to explain the inverse relationship between mirror activity and perspective-taking.