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23-09-2016 | Original Article

Hitting is male, giving is female: automatic imitation and complementarity during action observation

Auteurs: Luisa Lugli, Anna Chiara Obertis, Anna M. Borghi

Gepubliceerd in: Psychological Research | Uitgave 6/2017

Abstract

Is somebody going to hurt us? We draw back. The present study investigates using behavioral measures the interplay between imitative and complementary actions activated while observing female/male hands performing different actions. Female and male participants were required to discriminate the gender of biologically and artificially colored hands that displayed both individual (grasping) and social (giving and punching) actions. Biological hands evoked automatic imitation, while hands of different gender activated complementary mechanisms. Furthermore, responses reflected gender stereotypes: giving actions were more associated to females, punching actions to males. Results have implications for studies on social stereotyping, and for research on action observation, showing that the mirror neuron system resonates in both an imitative and complementary fashion.

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Notice that, in behavioral tasks, the presence of motor resonance can be inferred but not directly established, since the mirror system activation is not directly measured. Likely due to this reason, the authors of many behavioral studies prefer to avoid using the term “motor resonance”, and use instead “congruent action mapping”, "automatic imitation", “motor facilitation following observation of identical actions” or other formulations (Hamilton, 2013; Ocampo & Kriticos, 2010). Here we will use the term “automatic imitation”, even if this is inconsistent with our previous work (e.g., Anelli, Borghi, & Nicoletti, 2012; Liuzza, Setti, & Borghi, 2012; Ranzini, Borghi, & Nicoletti, 2011), due to the possible limitations of the use of "motor resonance" in the context of a behavioral study (see Heyes, 2010; see also Brass, Bekkering, Wohlschläger, & Prinz 2000; Brass, Bekkering, & Prinz, 2001).

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Titel: Hitting is male, giving is female: automatic imitation and complementarity during action observation
Auteurs: Luisa Lugli
Anna Chiara Obertis
Anna M. Borghi
Publicatiedatum: 23-09-2016
Uitgeverij: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Gepubliceerd in: Psychological Research / Uitgave 6/2017
Print ISSN: 0340-0727
Elektronisch ISSN: 1430-2772
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-016-0808-8

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