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Hou W, Cheng R, Zhao Z, Liao H, Li J. Atypical and variable attention patterns reveal reduced contextual priors in children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Res 2024; 17:1572-1585. [PMID: 38975627 DOI: 10.1002/aur.3194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2023] [Accepted: 06/23/2024] [Indexed: 07/09/2024]
Abstract
Accumulating evidence suggests that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show impairments in using contextual priors to predict others' actions and make intention inference. Yet less is known about whether and how children with ASD acquire contextual priors during action observation and how contextual priors relate to their action prediction and intention inference. To form proper contextual priors, individuals need to observe the social scenes in a reliable manner and focus on socially relevant information. By employing a data-driven scan path method and areas of interest (AOI)-based analysis, the current study investigated how contextual priors would relate to action prediction and intention understanding in 4-to-9-year-old children with ASD (N = 56) and typically developing (TD) children (N = 50) during free viewing of dynamic social scenes with different intentions. Results showed that children with ASD exhibited higher intra-subject variability when scanning social scenes and reduced attention to socially relevant areas. Moreover, children with high-level action prediction and intention understanding showed lower intra-subject variability and increased attention to socially relevant areas. These findings suggest that altered fixation patterns might restrain children with ASD from acquiring proper contextual priors, which has cascading downstream effects on their action prediction and intention understanding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenwen Hou
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Rong Cheng
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- College of Mechatronics and Control Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Zhong Zhao
- College of Mechatronics and Control Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Haotian Liao
- College of Mechatronics and Control Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Jing Li
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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2
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Sacheli LM, Diana L, Ravani A, Beretta S, Bolognini N, Paulesu E. Neuromodulation of the Left Inferior Frontal Cortex Affects Social Monitoring during Motor Interactions. J Cogn Neurosci 2023; 35:1788-1805. [PMID: 37677055 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/09/2023]
Abstract
Motor interactions require observing and monitoring a partner's performance as the interaction unfolds. Studies in monkeys suggest that this form of social monitoring might be mediated by the activity of the ventral premotor cortex (vPMc), a critical brain region in action observation and motor planning. Our previous fMRI studies in humans showed that the left vPMc is indeed recruited during social monitoring, but its causal role is unexplored. In three experiments, we applied online anodal or cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation over the left lateral frontal cortex during a music-like interactive task to test the hypothesis that neuromodulation of the left vPMc affects participants' performance when a partner violates the agent's expectations. Participants played short musical sequences together with a virtual partner by playing one note each in turn-taking. In 50% of the trials, the partner violated the participant's expectations by generating the correct note through an unexpected movement. During sham stimulation, the partner's unexpected behavior led to a slowdown in the participant's performance (observation-induced posterror slowing). A significant interaction with the stimulation type showed that cathodal and anodal transcranial direct current stimulation induced modulation of the observation-induced posterror slowing in opposite directions by reducing or enhancing it, respectively. Cathodal stimulation significantly reduced the effect compared to sham stimulation. No effect of neuromodulation was found when the partner behaved as expected or when the observed violation occurred within a context that was perceptually matched but noninteractive in nature. These results provide evidence for the critical causal role that the left vPMc might play in social monitoring during motor interactions, possibly through the interplay with other brain regions in the posterior medial frontal cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Nadia Bolognini
- University of Milano-Bicocca
- IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano
| | - Eraldo Paulesu
- University of Milano-Bicocca
- IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Italy
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3
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Rocca M, Sacheli LM, Romeo L, Cavallo A. Visuo-motor interference is modulated by task interactivity: A kinematic study. Psychon Bull Rev 2023; 30:1788-1801. [PMID: 37127813 PMCID: PMC10716078 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02297-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/12/2023] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Extensive evidence shows that action observation can influence action execution, a phenomenon often referred to as visuo-motor interference. Little is known about whether this effect can be modulated by the type of interaction agents are involved in, as different studies show conflicting results. In the present study, we aimed at shedding light on this question by recording and analyzing the kinematic unfolding of reach-to-grasp movements performed in interactive and noninteractive settings. Using a machine learning approach, we investigated whether the extent of visuo-motor interference would be enhanced or reduced in two different joint action settings compared with a noninteractive one. Our results reveal that the detrimental effect of visuo-motor interference is reduced when the action performed by the partner is relevant to achieve a common goal, regardless of whether this goal requires to produce a concrete sensory outcome in the environment (joint outcome condition) or only a joint movement configuration (joint movement condition). These findings support the idea that during joint actions we form dyadic motor plans, in which both our own and our partner's actions are represented in predictive terms and in light of the common goal to be achieved. The formation of a dyadic motor plan might allow agents to shift from the automatic simulation of an observed action to the active prediction of the consequences of a partner's action. Overall, our results demonstrate the unavoidable impact of others' action on our motor behavior in social contexts, and how strongly this effect can be modulated by task interactivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matilde Rocca
- Department of Psychology and Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- C'MoN, Cognition, Motion and Neuroscience Unit, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy
| | - Lucia Maria Sacheli
- Department of Psychology and Milan Center for Neuroscience (NeuroMi), University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy
| | - Luca Romeo
- Department of Economics and Law, University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy
- Computational Statistics and Machine Learning Laboratory, Center for Human Technologies, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy
| | - Andrea Cavallo
- C'MoN, Cognition, Motion and Neuroscience Unit, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy.
- Move'N'Brains Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy.
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Sacheli LM, Roberti E, Turati C. Encoding interactive scripts at 10 months of age. J Exp Child Psychol 2023; 227:105588. [PMID: 36512919 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105588] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2022] [Revised: 09/30/2022] [Accepted: 11/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Understanding action-reaction associations that give origin to interactive scripts (e.g., give-and-take interactions) is essential for appreciating social exchanges. However, studies on infants' action understanding have mainly investigated the case of actions performed by individual agents. Moreover, although extensive literature has explored infants' comprehension of action-effect relationships in object functioning, no study has addressed whether it also plays a role when observing social interactions, an issue we addressed here. In a first study, 10-month-old infants observed short videos of dyadic exchanges. We investigated whether they were able to link specific human gestures directed toward another person to specific vocal reactions in the receiver. We used a double-habituation paradigm in which infants were sequentially habituated to two specific action-reaction associations. In the test phase, infants watched one of the two habituated (Familiar) videos, a video with a reversed action-reaction association (Violation), and a Novel video. Results showed that the infants looked longer at both the Novel and Violation test trials than at the Familiar test trials. In a control study, we show that these results could not be accounted for by associative learning; indeed, learning of the action-reaction association did not occur when the vocalization was not produced by the receiver but only contingent on the agent's action. Thus, we show that 10-month-old infants can encode specific social action-effect relationships during the observation of dyadic interactions and that the interactivity of the social context may be critical to shaping young infants' understanding of others' behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucia Maria Sacheli
- Department of Psychology and Milan Center for Neuroscience (NeuroMI), University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milano, Italy.
| | - Elisa Roberti
- Department of Psychology and Milan Center for Neuroscience (NeuroMI), University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milano, Italy
| | - Chiara Turati
- Department of Psychology and Milan Center for Neuroscience (NeuroMI), University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milano, Italy.
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Sakata C, Ueda Y, Moriguchi Y. The contextual cueing effect disappears during joint search in preschool children. J Exp Child Psychol 2023; 227:105592. [PMID: 36442326 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105592] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2022] [Revised: 11/04/2022] [Accepted: 11/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
During preschool years, children's interacting with others increases. One of the involved developmental skills is task co-representation, through which children aged 5 years and older represent a partner's task in a similar way to their own task. In adults, task co-representation makes participants attend to and form memories of objects relevant to both their own task and their partner's task; however, it is unclear whether children can also form such memories. In Experiment 1, we examined the memory facilitation of joint search using a contextual cueing effect paradigm. Children were presented with search displays repeatedly with the same or random layouts and searched and responded to the target either alone (the single group; n = 32; Mage = 73.6 months, range = 61-80) or with their parent (the joint group; n = 32; Mage = 74.3 months, range = 64-81). Results showed that the search with the same layouts was faster than that with the random layouts for the single group, indicating that children form associative memories of target and distractors relevant to their own task. For the joint group, this effect was not statistically different from that of the single group, with exploratory analysis suggesting that it was disrupted. In Experiment 2, children performed the search with a peer (n = 32; Mage = 72.7 months, range = 67-79) and the effect was also not found. Our findings suggest that the self's and partner's tasks are represented but might not be incorporated into associative memory in 5- and 6-year-old children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chifumi Sakata
- Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
| | - Yoshiyuki Ueda
- Institute for the Future of Human Society, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
| | - Yusuke Moriguchi
- Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
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6
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OUP accepted manuscript. Cereb Cortex 2022; 32:4934-4951. [DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2021] [Revised: 12/30/2021] [Accepted: 12/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Campos-Moinier K, Brunel L. Your action does matter to me: Examining the role of the co-actor's action-effects in resolving the self-other discrimination problem. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2021; 75:1583-1592. [PMID: 34665063 DOI: 10.1177/17470218211056929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Sharing a task with another person can introduce the need to discriminate representations that refer to our own action from that of the other person's. The current understanding is that information about the stimulus event drives the self-other discrimination process, as it promotes (via the reactivation of feature codes) the representation that encodes the corresponding action. However, this mechanistic explanation relies on experimental situations in which stimulus event information (e.g., spatial location) is always and directly available. Thus, it remains unclear whether and how we could successfully discriminate between self- and other related action representations in the absence of such information. The present study addressed this unanswered question using a novel joint Simon task-based paradigm. We report the results of three experiments in which we manipulated the availability of stimulus event information into the contralateral space. Our findings demonstrate that participants are able to compensate for the absence of stimulus event information by relying on temporal features of their co-actor's action-effects (Experiment 1). Even more surprising was that participants continued to monitor the temporal features of their co-actor's actions even when given a verbal signal by their co-actor (Experiments 2a), or full access to the common workspace (Experiment 2b). Our results are strong evidence that the representation of actions is not purely stimulus driven. They suggest that the temporal dimension of the other person's actions is able to drive the self-other discrimination process, in the same way as other perceptual dimensions and feature codes that are shared with the stimulus event.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kévin Campos-Moinier
- Laboratoire Epsylon (EA 4556), Univ Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Lionel Brunel
- Laboratoire Epsylon (EA 4556), Univ Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier, France
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Sacheli LM, Arcangeli E, Carioti D, Butterfill S, Berlingeri M. Taking apart what brings us together: The role of action prediction, perspective-taking, and theory of mind in joint action. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2021; 75:1228-1243. [PMID: 34609238 DOI: 10.1177/17470218211050198] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The ability to act together with others to achieve common goals is crucial in life, yet there is no full consensus on the underlying cognitive skills. While influential theoretical accounts suggest that interaction requires sophisticated insights into others' minds, alternative views propose that high-level social skills might not be necessary because interactions are grounded on sensorimotor predictive mechanisms. At present, empirical evidence is insufficient to decide between the two. This study addressed this issue and explored the association between performance at joint action tasks and cognitive abilities in three domains-action prediction, perspective-taking, and theory of mind-in healthy adults (N = 58). We found that, while perspective-taking played a role in reading the behaviour of others independently of the social context, action prediction abilities specifically influenced the agents' performance in an interactive task but not in a control (social but non-interactive) task. In our study, performance at a theory of mind test did not play any role, as confirmed by Bayesian analyses. The results suggest that, in adults, sensorimotor predictive mechanisms might play a significant and specific role in supporting interpersonal coordination during motor interactions. We discuss the implications of our findings for the contrasting theoretical views described earlier and propose a way they might be partly reconciled.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucia Maria Sacheli
- Department of Psychology and Milan Center for Neuroscience (NeuroMi), University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Elisa Arcangeli
- Department of Humanistic Studies (DISTUM), University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy
| | - Desiré Carioti
- Department of Humanistic Studies (DISTUM), University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy
| | | | - Manuela Berlingeri
- Department of Humanistic Studies (DISTUM), University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy.,Center of Developmental Neuropsychology, ASUR Marche, Pesaro, Italy
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Sacheli LM, Musco MA, Zazzera E, Paulesu E. Mechanisms for mutual support in motor interactions. Sci Rep 2021; 11:3060. [PMID: 33542259 PMCID: PMC7862452 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-82138-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2020] [Accepted: 01/14/2021] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
What is the key to successful interaction? Is it sufficient to represent a common goal, or does the way our partner achieves that goal count as well? How do we react when our partner misbehaves? We used a turn-taking music-like task requiring participants to play sequences of notes together with a partner, and we investigated how people adapt to a partner's error that violates their expectations. Errors consisted of either playing a wrong note of a sequence that the agents were playing together (thus preventing the achievement of the joint goal) or playing the expected note with an unexpected action. In both cases, we found post-error slowing and inaccuracy suggesting the participants' implicit tendency to correct the partner's error and produce the action that the partner should have done. We argue that these "joint" monitoring processes depend on the motor predictions made within a (dyadic) motor plan and may represent a basic mechanism for mutual support in motor interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucia Maria Sacheli
- Department of Psychology and Milan Center for Neuroscience (NeuroMi), University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo 1, 20126, Milano, Italy.
- IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy.
| | - Margherita Adelaide Musco
- Department of Psychology and Milan Center for Neuroscience (NeuroMi), University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo 1, 20126, Milano, Italy
| | - Elisa Zazzera
- Department of Psychology and Milan Center for Neuroscience (NeuroMi), University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo 1, 20126, Milano, Italy
| | - Eraldo Paulesu
- Department of Psychology and Milan Center for Neuroscience (NeuroMi), University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo 1, 20126, Milano, Italy
- IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy
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Meyer M, Hunnius S. Becoming better together: The early development of interpersonal coordination. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2020; 254:187-204. [PMID: 32859287 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2020.06.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Crucial for interacting successfully with other people is the ability to coordinate one's actions with those of others. Interpersonal coordination can be planned or emergent (spontaneous). Although typically easy for adults, coordinating successfully and smoothly with others may be far from trivial for infants and toddlers. What do we know about the developmental trajectory of interpersonal coordination in the first years of life? Which processes play a role in successfully coordinating with others? And how does the development of interpersonal coordination impact other aspects of children's development? In this chapter, we review when and how infants and young children develop successful interpersonal coordination skills (planned and emergent) in early childhood. We argue that insights from the field of cognitive (neuro-) science have significantly advanced our knowledge on which social-cognitive processes underlie interpersonal coordination and its development. In particular, we discuss four important social-cognitive processes; monitoring and predicting others' actions as well as planning and controlling one's own actions. We then present findings on the impact of interpersonal coordination on young children's social understanding, their prosocial behavior and affiliation. Together, we conclude that for future research on the development of interpersonal coordination interdisciplinary exchanges between fields like cognitive (neuro-) science and developmental science offer promising avenues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marlene Meyer
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States.
| | - Sabine Hunnius
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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Scharoun Benson SM, Bryden PJ, Roy EA. Age-group differences in beginning-state comfort reveal an increase in motor planning capabilities. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT 2019. [DOI: 10.1177/0165025419865620] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Objects can be grasped in different ways to ensure a movement plan is aligned with the intended action. The current study assessed grasp posture in joint action object manipulation in children (ages 6–11, n = 68), young adults ( n = 21), and older adults ( n = 23). Participants performed two actions (pickup and pass; pickup and pass for use) within two movement contexts (using a dowel as if it were the actual object; actual object use), using two objects (glass and hammer) that differed in use-dependent experience. Beginning-state comfort (prioritizing a comfortable initial hand posture for an object recipient) was assessed. Taken together, findings support the notion that the ability to anticipate the intended action, and thus consider an action partner in one’s action plan, increases with age. With age and use-dependent experience, it can be argued that there is a shift from stimulus-driven, familiar responses, to considering affordances and task demands. Together, findings add to our understanding of changes in motor planning capabilities across the life span.
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Sacheli LM, Arcangeli E, Paulesu E. Evidence for a dyadic motor plan in joint action. Sci Rep 2018; 8:5027. [PMID: 29567946 PMCID: PMC5864721 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-23275-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2017] [Accepted: 03/07/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
What mechanisms distinguish interactive from non-interactive actions? To answer this question we tested participants while they took turns playing music with a virtual partner: in the interactive joint action condition, the participants played a melody together with their partner by grasping (C note) or pressing (G note) a cube-shaped instrument, alternating in playing one note each. In the non-interactive control condition, players’ behavior was not guided by a shared melody, so that the partner’s actions and notes were irrelevant to the participant. In both conditions, the participant’s and partner’s actions were physically congruent (e.g., grasp-grasp) or incongruent (e.g., grasp-point), and the partner’s association between actions and notes was coherent with the participant’s or reversed. Performance in the non-interactive condition was only affected by physical incongruence, whereas joint action was only affected when the partner’s action-note associations were reversed. This shows that task interactivity shapes the sensorimotor coding of others’ behaviors, and that joint action is based on active prediction of the partner’s action effects rather than on passive action imitation. We suggest that such predictions are based on Dyadic Motor Plans that represent both the agent’s and the partner’s contributions to the interaction goal, like playing a melody together.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucia Maria Sacheli
- Department of Psychology and Milan Center for Neuroscience (NeuroMi), University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126, Milan, Italy. .,IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, 20161, Milan, Italy.
| | - Elisa Arcangeli
- Department of Psychology and Milan Center for Neuroscience (NeuroMi), University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126, Milan, Italy
| | - Eraldo Paulesu
- Department of Psychology and Milan Center for Neuroscience (NeuroMi), University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126, Milan, Italy.,IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, 20161, Milan, Italy
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