The social nature of perception and action

Research output: Contribution to journalReview Articlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

Humans engage in a wide range of social activities. Previous research has focused on the role of higher cognitive functions, such as mentalizing (the ability to infer others' mental states) and language processing, in social exchange. This article reviews recent studies on action perception and joint action suggesting that basic perception-action links are crucial for many social interactions. Mapping perceived actions to one's own action repertoire enables direct understanding of others' actions and supports action identification. Joint action relies on shared action representations and involves modeling of others' performance in relation to one's own. Taking the social nature of perception and action seriously not only contributes to the understanding of dedicated social processes but has the potential to create a new perspective on the individual mind and brain.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)99-104
Number of pages6
JournalCurrent Directions in Psychological Science
Volume15
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2006
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Action perception
  • Joint action
  • Perception and action
  • Social cognition
  • Social neuroscience

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