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Observation of a finger or an object movement primes imitative responses differentially

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Abstract

Behavioural advantages for imitation of human movements over movements instructed by other visual stimuli are attributed to an ‘action observation-execution matching’ (AOEM) mechanism. Here, we demonstrate that priming/exogenous cueing with a videotaped finger movement stimulus (S1) produces specific congruency effects in reaction times (RTs) of imitative responses to a target movement (S2) at defined stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). When contrasted with a moving object at an SOA of 533 ms, only a human movement is capable of inducing an effect reminiscent of ‘inhibition of return’ (IOR), i.e. a significant advantage for imitation of a subsequent incongruent as compared to a congruent movement. When responses are primed by a finger movement at SOAs of 533 and 1,200 ms, inhibition of congruent or facilitation of incongruent responses, respectively, is stronger as compared to priming by a moving object. This pattern does not depend on whether S2 presents a finger movement or a moving object, thus effects cannot be attributed to visual similarity between S1 and S2. We propose that, whereas both priming by a finger movement and a moving object induces processes of spatial orienting, solely observation of a human movement activates AOEM. Thus, S1 immediately elicits an imitative response tendency. As an overt imitation of S1 is inadequate in the present setting, the response is inhibited which, in turn, modulates congruency effects.

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Notes

  1. In the classical redundant-targets effect paradigm (RTE) subjects respond to stimuli that are lateralised either to the left or to the right of fixation or presented bilaterally. However, response facilitation has also been observed for responses to unilateral multiple targets (Pollmann and Zaidal 1999).

Abbreviations

AOEM:

Action observation-execution matching

S1:

First/prime stimulus

S2:

Second/target stimulus

RT:

Reaction time

SOA:

Stimulus onset asynchrony

IOR:

Inhibition of return

PP:

Positive priming

RTE:

Redundant-targets effect

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the Volkswagenstiftung (I / 78553) and the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF, grant 01 GO 0511). We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany

    M. Jonas, R. Lange, T. Bäumer & A. Münchau

  2. Department of Neurology, MEG Laboratory, Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

    K. Biermann-Ruben, K. Kessler & A. Schnitzler

  3. Department of Psychology, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging (CCNi), University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    K. Kessler

  4. Department of Neurology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    R. Lange

  5. NeuroImage Nord, Department of Neurology, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany

    M. Jonas & H. R. Siebner

  6. Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

    M. Jonas & H. R. Siebner

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  1. M. Jonas
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Jonas, M., Biermann-Ruben, K., Kessler, K. et al. Observation of a finger or an object movement primes imitative responses differentially. Exp Brain Res 177, 255–265 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-006-0660-y

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