Representing others' actions: Just like one's own?

Natalie Sebanz*, Günther Knoblich, Wolfgang Prinz

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

Previous research has shown that observing others' actions can affect individual performance of the same actions. In the present study, we developed a new paradigm to investigate whether and how complementary actions at the disposal of another agent are represented and influence one's own actions. A spatial compatibility task was distributed among two people so that each participant took care of one of two responses. The identical task was performed alone and alongside another participant. There was a spatial compatibility effect in the group setting only. It was similar to the effect obtained when one person took care of both responses. This result suggests that one's own actions and others' actions are represented in a functionally equivalent way.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)B11-B21
JournalCognition
Volume88
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jul 2003
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Action representation
  • Ideomotor theory
  • Joint action
  • Preception-action link
  • Social cognition
  • Spatial compatibility

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