Ideomotor effects in joint action: The influence of anticipated partner reactions on action control processes

• Applicant: Dr. Romy Müller
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: from 2014 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 253524940

A person's own actions in joint tasks are influenced by the actions of the partner. As processes of action control are mediated by an anticipation of an action's consequences, it is possible that besides the observed actions of the partner also his expected reactions to one's own actions play a role. In that case, it should be easier to perform actions that are followed by similar actions. Furthermore, it is likely that such influences in goal-directed, joint tasks depend on the relation between the two partners' actions. To investigate such effects of anticipated partner reactions on action control, three studies are performed in which hand movements to manipulate virtual objects (multi-touch gestures) are followed by either compatible or incompatible hand movements of the partner.In the first step, an empirically well-established form of action-effect-compatibility is transferred to a joint task setting. For that purpose, in the first sub- project the spatial compatibility of both actions is varied. The subject moves virtual objects to different locations on the multi-touch table and the partner colors either the object that has just been moved or another one.To investigate the influence of a fit between both partners' actions in a continuous feature of the movement itself, the second sub-project varies temporal compatibility. A slow or fast finger movement of the subject is followed by a partner reaction of the same or the opposite speed. Between two experiments it is varied whether these two actions either are components of a compound object manipulation, or the participants manipulate their respective objects independently. Furthermore, it is varied whether the partner's reaction is instructed as a direct imitation or occurs due to situational characteristics of the task setting.The third sub- project extends the findings to an imitative or anti-imitative context in the actual sense by manipulating compatibility via the type of the actions itself. The partner reacts to grasping movements with identical or different grasps. Just like in the second sub-project, it is varied whether the two actions are parts of a compound action or isolated individual actions.All three sub-projects investigate how the anticipation of compatible actions by a partner can change the processes of action planning and execution. Therefore, besides the reaction time until the initiation of a hand gesture, its continuous parameters are analyzed as well. In this way, the project is meant to provide indications on the manner in which the expected fit of other people's actions with one's own action can mediate the coordination of joint actions.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants