Metacontrol and joint action: how shared goals transfer from one task to another?

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Social Neuroscience
• Human Interaction Studies

Background:

• Human daily activities and team sports involve constant interaction, not isolation.
• Understanding how social contexts influence cognitive processes like self-other integration is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if competitive/cooperative processing modes (metacontrol states) alter bodily self-other integration in joint action.
• To explore if shared group experience with a partner moderates this effect.

Main Methods:

• A social variant of the two-choice Simon task was employed for two participants performing complementary parts.
• Participants were induced into competitive or cooperative states via a dyadic game before the joint Simon task.
• The study analyzed the joint Simon effect and the impact of shared goal induction.

Main Results:

• Significant joint Simon effects were observed in both competitive and cooperative states.
• The joint Simon effect was smaller in the competitive state compared to the cooperative state.
• Shared goal induction with a partner decreased the joint Simon effect, independently of the metacontrol state.

Conclusions:

• Abstract cognitive goal states, like competition or cooperation, can transfer across tasks and influence bodily self-other integration.
• Shared experiences in joint action tasks can modulate self-other integration.
• Metacontrol state theory's predictions regarding goal transfer and its effects on cognitive processes are supported.