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Priming of hand and foot response: is spatial attention to the body site enough?
Alison J Wiggett1, Steven P Tipper2
1School of Psychology, Adeilad Brigantia, Bangor University, Bangor, Wales, UK, LL57 2AS. a.wiggett@bangor.ac.uk.
Abstract:
The purpose of the present study was to test whether we see evidence for body compatibility effects when viewing both familiar and unusual body postures. Specifically, in a task where colour targets have to be discriminated, we tested whether spatial orienting to a body site is sufficient for effects of body compatibility to emerge when viewing a task-irrelevant body or whether effects are dependent on whether or not we are able to adopt the viewed body posture. The results suggest that spatial orienting to a body site is insufficient; rather we argue that it is only postures that are familiar and we are easily able to adopt that can be processed fluently and influence target discrimination. This points to a key contribution of motor representations to body compatibility effects.
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