The inherence bias in preschoolers' explanations for achievement differences: replication and extension.

Two studies examined how preschoolers (N = 610; French) explain differences in achievement. Replicating and extending previous research, the results revealed that children invoke more inherent factors (e.g., intelligence) than extrinsic factors (e.g., access to educational resources) when explaining why some children do better in school than others. This inherence bias in explanation can contribute to inequalities in education (e.g., the early-emerging disparities based on social class) by portraying them as fair and legitimate even when they are not.

Joint action with human and robotic co-actors: Self-other integration is immune to the perceived humanness of the interacting partner.

When performing a joint action task, we automatically represent the action and/or task constraints of the co-actor with whom we are interacting. Current models suggest that, not only physical similarity, but also abstract, conceptual features shared between self and the interacting partner play a key role in the emergence of joint action effects. Across two experiments, we investigated the influence of the perceived humanness of a robotic agent on the extent to which we integrate the action of that agent into our own action/task representation, as indexed by the Joint Simon Effect (JSE). The presence (vs. absence) of a prior verbal interaction was used to manipulate robot's perceived humanness. In Experiment 1, using a within-participant design, we had participants perform the joint Go/No-go Simon task with two different robots. Before performing the joint task, one robot engaged in a verbal interaction with the participant and the other robot did not. In Experiment 2, we employed a between-participants design to contrast these two robot conditions as well as a human partner condition. In both experiments, a significant Simon effect emerged during joint action and its amplitude was not modulated by the humanness of the interacting partner. Experiment 2 further showed that the JSE obtained in robot conditions did not differ from that measured in the human partner condition. These findings contradict current theories of joint action mechanisms according to which perceived self-other similarity is a crucial determinant of self-other integration in shared task settings.

Self-partner inclusion predicts performance of romantically involved individuals in a body-scaled action-anticipation task.

Previous research has shown that romantic relationships can lead to the cognitive inclusion of a romantic partner into one's own self-representation, resulting in blurred boundaries between self and intimate other. Recent work suggests that this self-other integration process encompasses the two dimensions of the self-the conceptual and the bodily self. In line with this, it has been proposed that romantic love is associated with cognitive states that blur or reduce the saliency of self-boundaries in the bodily domain. The present study tested this hypothesis by investigating the influence of the self-other integration process in romantic love on passability judgments of door-like apertures, an action-anticipation task that rests on the representation of bodily boundaries. Romantically involved and single participants estimated whether they could pass through apertures of different widths. Moreover, inclusion of romantic partner in the self was assessed using the Inclusion of Other in the Self (IOS) scale. The pattern of correlation and the ratio between participants' shoulder width and aperture judgments did not differ between romantically involved participants and singles. However, our results revealed that in romantically involved participants, the relationship between individuals' shoulder width and aperture judgements was moderated by IOS scores. A greater inclusion of romantic partner in the self was associated with a weaker prediction of aperture judgment by participants' shoulder width. A similar moderating effect of the intensity of romantic feelings (as measured by the passionate love scale) on shoulder width-aperture judgment relationship was found. IOS scores, but not romantic feelings, also moderated aperture judgments made for another individual (third person perspective). Together, these findings are consistent with the view that inclusion of romantic partner in the self triggers cognitive states affecting self-boundaries in the bodily domain.

Embodied self-other overlap in romantic love: a review and integrative perspective.

Romantic love has long intrigued scientists in various disciplines. Social-cognitive research has provided ample evidence for overlapping mental representations of self and romantic partner. This overlap between self and romantic partner would contribute to the experience of love and has been found to be a predictor of relationship quality. Self-partner overlap has been mainly documented at the level of conceptual or narrative self, with studies showing confusion between one's own and partner's identity aspects, perspectives, and outcomes. But the self is not restricted to abstract, conceptual representations but also involves body-related representations, which, research has revealed, are linked to social-cognitive processes. In this article, we review the emerging evidence that romantic love involves not only a blurring of conceptual selves but also a reduction of the distinction between self and romantic partner at a bodily level. We discuss the potential function(s) of self-other overlap in romantic relationship at the level of body-related representations and consider possible mechanisms. We conclude with possible future directions to further investigate how romantic love engages embodied self-other representations involved in social interactions.

Social learning of action-effect associations: Modulation of action control following observation of virtual action's effects.

A core assumption of ideomotor theory is that learned bidirectional associations between actions and their effects enable agents to select and initiate actions by anticipating their sensory consequences. Although the acquisition of bidirectional action-effect (A-E) associations built on the experience of one's own movements has received considerable empirical support, the available evidence for A-E learning through the observation of others' actions and their effects remains limited. In two experiments, we tested whether A-E associations could be acquired through social learning in an experimental setup involving observation of virtual actions. In an acquisition phase, participants repeatedly observed finger movements on a screen, and each movement was consistently followed by a specific effect tone. In the subsequent test phase, tones were presented as imperative stimuli in a reaction-time task. In both experiments, reaction times were shorter when tones required the same response with which they had been linked in the preceding observation phase, compared with when they required a different response, revealing the impact of A-E associations acquired through observation. Similar results were obtained whether the movements observed during the acquisition phase were spatially aligned (Experiment 1) or not (Experiment 2) with participants' responses in the test phase, ruling out the possibility that the results merely reflect spatial compatibility effects. Our findings add new evidence for an acquisition of A-E associations through observation. Importantly, we generalize this acquisition process to the observation of virtual actions. These findings further confirm effect-based action control, as proposed by ideomotor theory.

The influence of passionate love on self-other discrimination during joint action.

Prior research on romantic relationships suggests that being in love involves a blurring of self-other cognitive boundaries. However, this research has focused so far on conceptual self-representation, related to the individual's traits or interests. The present study tested the hypothesis that passionate love involves a reduced discrimination between the self and the romantic partner at a bodily level, as indexed by an increased Joint Simon effect (JSE), and we further examined whether this self-other discrimination correlated with the passion felt for the partner. As predicted, we found an increased JSE when participants performed the Joint Simon Task with their romantic partner compared with a friend of the opposite sex. Providing support for the self-expansion model of love (Aron and Aron in Pers Relatsh 3(1):45-58, 1996), this result indicates that romantic relationships blur the boundaries between the self and the romantic partner at a bodily level. Furthermore, the strength of romantic feelings was positively correlated with the magnitude of the JSE when sharing the task with the romantic partner.

Getting closer: Synchronous interpersonal multisensory stimulation increases closeness and attraction toward an opposite-sex other in female participants.

Experiencing tactile facial stimulation while seeing synchronous stimulations delivered to another's face induces enfacement, i.e. the subjective experience of ownership over the other's face. The synchronous Interpersonal Multisensory Stimulation (IMS) procedure leading to enfacement induces changes beyond the bodily sense of self, such as increased feeling of closeness between self and other. However, evidence for such an influence of IMS on higher-level self-other representations remains limited. Moreover, research has been restricted to settings involving a same-sex other. The current study tested, in female participants, whether IMS could promote social closeness and attraction toward an opposite-sex other. Across two experiments, enfacement with an opposite-sex face was successfully obtained. Synchronous (vs. asynchronous) IMS yielded greater closeness with the other and induced greater Liking and Attraction scores. These novel findings add further evidence to the existence of a link between body representation and social cognition. Implications for interpersonal attraction are discussed.

Individual Differences in Reward Sensitivity Modulate the Distinctive Effects of Conscious and Unconscious Rewards on Executive Performance.

Executive control can be driven by conscious and unconscious monetary cues. This has raised the exciting question regarding the role of conscious and unconscious reward in the regulation of executive control. Similarities and differences have been uncovered between unconscious and conscious processing of monetary rewards. In the present study, we explored whether individual differences associated with reward sensitivity foster these variations on memory-updating-a core component process of executive control. Participants (N = 60) with low, medium, and high reward sensitivity were selected and performed a numerical memory-updating task. At the beginning of each trial, a high (1 euro) or a low (5 cents) reward was presented subliminally (24 ms) or supraliminally (300 ms). Participants earned the reward by responding correctly. Participants with low reward sensitivity performed better for the high reward only in the subliminal condition. For participants with medium reward sensitivity, performance improved with high reward in both subliminal and supraliminal conditions. When participants had high reward sensitivity scores, the effect of reward was stronger in the supraliminal condition than the subliminal condition. These results show that the distinctive effects of conscious and unconscious rewards on executive performance are modulated by individual differences in reward sensitivity. We discuss this finding with reference to models of conscious/unconscious processing of reward stimuli.

Influence of action-effect associations acquired by ideomotor learning on imitation.

According to the ideomotor theory, actions are represented in terms of their perceptual effects, offering a solution for the correspondence problem of imitation (how to translate the observed action into a corresponding motor output). This effect-based coding of action is assumed to be acquired through action-effect learning. Accordingly, performing an action leads to the integration of the perceptual codes of the action effects with the motor commands that brought them about. While ideomotor theory is invoked to account for imitation, the influence of action-effect learning on imitative behavior remains unexplored. In two experiments, imitative performance was measured in a reaction time task following a phase of action-effect acquisition. During action-effect acquisition, participants freely executed a finger movement (index or little finger lifting), and then observed a similar (compatible learning) or a different (incompatible learning) movement. In Experiment 1, finger movements of left and right hands were presented as action-effects during acquisition. In Experiment 2, only right-hand finger movements were presented during action-effect acquisition and in the imitation task the observed hands were oriented orthogonally to participants' hands in order to avoid spatial congruency effects. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that imitative performance was improved after compatible learning, compared to incompatible learning. In Experiment 2, although action-effect learning involved perception of finger movements of right hand only, imitative capabilities of right- and left-hand finger movements were equally affected. These results indicate that an observed movement stimulus processed as the effect of an action can later prime execution of that action, confirming the ideomotor approach to imitation. We further discuss these findings in relation to previous studies of action-effect learning and in the framework of current ideomotor approaches to imitation.

Does evaluative pressure make you less or more distractible? Role of top-down attentional control over response selection.

People's ability to resist cognitive distraction is crucial in many situations. The present research examines individuals' resistance to attentional distraction under conditions of evaluative pressure. In a series of 4 studies, participants had to complete various attentional tasks while believing their intelligence was or was not under the scrutiny of an experimenter. Using a spatial cuing paradigm, Studies 1 through 3 demonstrated that feeling evaluated led participants to implement stronger feature-based attentional control, which resulted in more (or less) distraction when irrelevant information matched (did not match) the searched-for target. Study 4 ruled out the possibility that the above effects were due to voluntary shifts of attention and demonstrated that the control settings implemented under evaluative pressure resulted in stronger goal-contingent response priming. Thus, the way individuals relate to the task-the performance context in which they are-induces strong attentional selection biases. Altogether, the present findings highlight an overlooked form of top-down modulation of attention based on performance self-relevance. Implications for both the current models of attentional control and the current hypotheses on the impact of evaluative pressure on cognition, as well as the consequences for more complex performances, are discussed.

Somatosensory experiences with action modulate alpha and beta power during subsequent action observation.

How does prior experience with action change how we perceive a similar action performed by someone else? Previous research has examined the role of sensorimotor and visual experiences in action mirroring during subsequent observation, but the contribution of somatosensory experiences to this effect has not been adequately examined. The current study tests whether prior somatosensory stimulation experienced during action production modulates brain activity during observation of similar actions being performed by others. Specifically, changes in alpha- and beta-range oscillations in the electroencephalogram (EEG) during observation of reaching actions were examined in relation to the observer's own prior experience of somatosensory stimulation while carrying out similar actions. Analyses revealed that alpha power over central electrodes was significantly decreased during observation of an action expected to result in somatosensory stimulation. Conversely, beta power was increased when an observed action was expected to result in somatosensory stimulation. These results suggest that somatosensory experiences may uniquely contribute to the way in which we process other people's actions.

Long-lasting effects of performance-contingent unconscious and conscious reward incentives during cued task-switching.

Motivation is often thought to interact consciously with executive control, although recent studies have indicated that motivation can also be unconscious. To date, however, the effects of unconscious motivation on high-order executive control functions have not been explored. Only a few studies using subliminal stimuli (i.e., those not related to motivation, such as an arrow to prime a response) have reported short-lived effects on high-order executive control functions. Here, building on research on unconscious motivation, in which a behavior of perseverance is induced to attain a goal, we hypothesized that subliminal motivation can have long-lasting effects on executive control processes. We investigated the impact of unconscious/conscious monetary reward incentives on evoked potentials and neural activity dynamics during cued task-switching performance. Participants performed long runs of task-switching. At the beginning of each run, a reward (50 cents or 1 cent) was displayed, either subliminally or supraliminally. Participants earned the reward contingent upon their correct responses to each trial of the run. A higher percentage of runs was achieved with higher (conscious and unconscious) than lower rewards, indicating that unconscious high rewards have long-lasting behavioral effects. Event-related potential (ERP) results indicated that unconscious and conscious rewards influenced preparatory effort in task preparation, as suggested by a greater fronto-central contingent negative variation (CNV) starting at cue-onset. However, a greater parietal P3 associated with better reaction times (RTs) was observed only under conditions of conscious high reward, suggesting a larger amount of working memory invested during task performance. Together, these results indicate that unconscious and conscious motivations are similar at early stages of task-switching preparation but differ during task performance.

Impact of physical activity on executive functions in aging: a selective effect on inhibition among old adults.

The purposes of this study were to determine the impact of physical activity on three different executive functions (shifting, inhibition, and updating) and to examine whether cardiovascular fitness was a good mediator of the positive link(s) between these variables. Sixty-three young adults (18-28 years), 30 young-old adults (60-70 years) and 30 old adults (71-81 years) were divided into physically active and sedentary groups according to physical activity level (assessed from an accelerometer and the Historical Leisure Activity Questionnaire). Cardiovascular fitness was assessed by VO2max from the Rockport 1 mile. Each executive function was assessed through three different experimental tasks. ANCOVAs revealed that the effect of physical activity level was specific to the old adults and significant for inhibition, but not for updating and shifting. Mediation analysis showed that this positive effect in the old adults group was mediated by cardiovascular fitness level. The present findings highlight the positive linkages among physical activity, cardiovascular fitness, and inhibition in aging.

Number generation bias after action observation.

Recent studies have demonstrated that conceptual and abstract knowledge could rely on and could be influenced by sensory-motor processing of usual goal-directed actions. In line with this, interactions have been reported between number magnitude and finger grip with, for example, small-magnitude numbers priming grip closure and large-magnitude numbers priming grip aperture. Here, we assessed whether observing a closing or opening grip was able to influence the magnitude of the numbers produced in a random number generation task, and we tested whether this effect was specific to biological hand actions by using non-biological fake hands with the same closure or aperture amplitude. The participants were asked to produce as randomly as possible numbers between 1 and 10 after they observed a change in posture (i.e. grip closing or grip opening) or in colour (i.e. red or blue hand). The results revealed that the participants produced more often small numbers than large ones after observing a grip closing, whereas they produced equally often small and large numbers after observing a grip opening or colour changes. Importantly, this effect was only present for the biological hands but not for the non-biological fake hands. This finding demonstrates that observing a biological grip closing conveys small-magnitude information, which, in turn, influences the mental selection of a numerical response. We discuss our results in the light of the internal random generator process proposed in the domain of numerical cognition and argue that number semantics is stored with a code governed by sensory-motor mechanisms.

Processing speed and executive functions in cognitive aging: how to disentangle their mutual relationship?

The processing-speedtheory and the prefrontal-executivetheory are competing theories of cognitive aging. Here we used a theoretically and methodologically-driven framework to investigate the relationships among measures classically used to assess these two theoretical constructs. Twenty-eight young adults (18-32 years) and 39 healthy older adults (65-80 years) performed a battery of nine neuropsychological and experimental tasks assessing three executive function (EF) components: Inhibition, Updating, and Shifting. Rate of information processing was evaluated via three different experimental and psychometric tests. Partial correlations analyses suggested that 2-Choice Reaction Time (CRT) performance is a more pure measure of processing speed than Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) performance in the elderly. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that, although measures of processing speed and EF components share mutual variance, each measure was independently affected by chronological age. The unique adverse effect of age was more important for processing speed than for EF. The processing-speed theory and the prefrontal-executive theory of cognitive aging were shown not to be mutually exclusive but share mutual variance. This implies the need to control for their mutual relationship before examining their unique potential role in the explanation of age-related cognitive declines. Caution has still to be taken concerning the tasks used to evaluate these theoretical constructs.

An investigation of the determinants of motor contagion in preschool children.

The influence of action perception on action execution has been demonstrated by studies of motor contagion in which the observation of an action interferes with the concurrent execution of a different action. The current study extends prior work on the extent of motor contagion in early childhood, a period of development when the effects of action observation on action execution may be particularly salient. During a classroom story reading, children (mean age 4.8 years) were familiarized with two different-colored bears, one of which was used as a seemingly animate hand puppet while the other bear remained lifeless and inanimate. Children then completed a task in which they were instructed to move a stylus on a graphics tablet in the presence of background videos of each bear making horizontal arm movements which had biological (human-moved) or non-biological (machine-moved) origins. Motor contagion was assessed as the variability of stylus movements in the horizontal axis when children were instructed to produce vertical stylus movements. Significant levels of motor contagion were seen when children observed the previously animate bear in the non-biological motion condition and when they observed the previously inanimate bear in the biological motion condition. For future studies of social perception, this finding points to the potential importance of examining mismatches between prior experience with (or knowledge about) a particular agent and the subsequent behavior of that agent in a different context.

Experience with novel actions modulates frontal α EEG desynchronization.

There is growing interest in the effects of experience on the neural processes linking action execution and action perception. We tested whether experience with unfamiliar actions can alter desynchronization of alpha-range power in the EEG upon re-observation of those actions. In a training session, participants (N=21) watched videos of novel drawing movements. Half of the movements were imitated after each viewing, and half of the movements were seen but not imitated, thus forming two training conditions: visual plus motor experience (V+M), and visual experience only (VO). In a testing session the next day, participants were shown the same videos of both sets of movements, and were also shown a third, completely novel, set of movements. Imitative performance was better for both training conditions than for novel actions. Event-related EEG desynchronization in the upper alpha band during action observation differed between conditions at frontal electrode sites, with novel actions being associated with less frontal desynchronization compared to V+M and VO actions. Differences between conditions were not noted over other regions. This suggests that moderate amounts of initial experience with novel actions can alter the neural processing of these actions when viewed again, particularly over frontal regions.

Does motor interference arise from mirror system activation? The effect of prior visuo-motor practice on automatic imitation.

Action perception may involve a mirror-matching system, such that observed actions are mapped onto the observer's own motor representations. The strength of such mirror system activation should depend on an individual's experience with the observed action. The motor interference effect, where an observed action interferes with a concurrently executed incongruent action, is thought to arise from mirror system activation. However, this view was recently challenged. If motor interference arises from mirror system activation, this effect should be sensitive to prior sensorimotor experience with the observed action. To test this prediction, we measured motor interference in two groups of participants observing the same incongruent movements. One group had received brief visuo-motor practice with the observed incongruent action, but not the other group. Action observation induced a larger motor interference in participants who had practiced the observed action. This result thus supports a mirror system account of motor interference.

Motor contagion: goal-directed actions are more contagious than non-goal-directed actions.

Recent theories posit a mirror-matching system mapping observed actions onto one's own motor system. Determining whether this system makes a distinction between goal-directed and non-goal-directed actions is crucial for the understanding of its function. The present study tested whether motor interference between observed and executed actions, which is thought to be an index of perceptual-motor matching, depends on the presence of goals in the observed action. Participants executed sinusoidal arm movements while observing a video of another person making similar or different movements. In certain conditions, elements representing goals for the observed movement were superimposed on the video displays. Overall, observing an incongruent movement interfered with movement execution. This interference was markedly increased when the observed incongruent movement was directed toward a visible goal, suggesting a greater perceptual-motor matching during observation of goal-directed versus non-goal-directed actions. This finding supports an action-reconstruction model of mirror system function rather than the traditional direct-matching model.

Motor contagion in young children: Exploring social influences on perception-action coupling.

Human development occurs in a social environment in which learning is tightly coupled to the behavior of other supportive humans. One aspect of this coupling may occur through motor contagion, in which observing the actions of other people is associated with the activation of related motor representations. In order to explore the overlap between action observation and action execution in early childhood, a novel task was developed in which 4-year-old children were instructed to move a stylus on a graphics tablet in the presence of a background video which showed a model moving her arm in a direction that was either congruent or incongruent with the instructed axis of the child's stylus movements. The presence of incongruent background movements was associated with a significant interference effect on children's stylus movements. This interference effect was stronger when the background movements were performed by a same-age peer rather than by an adult. It is suggested that early childhood is a particularly interesting age period to study motor contagion, since the transition from infancy to childhood involves concurrent changes in cognitive control and in the ability to flexibly decouple perception and action. The examination of motor contagion provides an important consideration of social influences on cognitive control in early childhood--influences that have been somewhat neglected in the developmental literature on the related construct of executive functioning.