Anticipated imitation of multiple agents

Publikation: Beiträge in ZeitschriftenZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschungbegutachtet

Authors

It is well-established that people tend to mimic one another's actions, a crucial aspect of social interactions. Anticipating imitation has been shown to boost motor activation and reaction times for congruent actions. However, prior research predominantly focused on dyads, leaving gaps in our knowledge regarding group dynamics. This study addresses this gap, conducting three experiments using extensive online data. Participants engaged in anticipated imitation tasks with one versus three virtual agents. The results across all three experiments (n = 77; n = 239; n = 457) consistently support the existence of an anticipated imitation effect, with faster reaction times for congruent actions. Furthermore, the research unveils a social facilitation effect, with participants reacting more swiftly when anticipating three agents compared to one. However, we did not find the expected increase of the congruency effect with multiple agents; rather, the data indicates that anticipating multiple agents instead decreases this effect. These findings are discussed within the framework of ideomotor theory, offering insights into how they relate to recent research on the automatic imitation of multiple agents.
OriginalspracheEnglisch
Aufsatznummer105831
ZeitschriftCognition
Jahrgang249
Anzahl der Seiten12
ISSN0010-0277
DOIs
PublikationsstatusErschienen - 01.08.2024

Bibliographische Notiz

Funding Information:
CMG is supported by a Marie Sk\u0142odowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowship (Grant Number: 101105378). EC was supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). MB is supported by an Einstein Strategic Professorship from the Einstein Foundation (EPP-2018-483) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany's Excellence Strategy \u2013 EXC 2002/1 \u201CScience of Intelligence\u201D \u2013 project number 390523135.

Funding Information:
CMG is supported by a Marie Sk\u0142odowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowship. EC was supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). MB is supported by an Einstein Strategic Professorship from the Einstein Foundation ( EPP-2018-483 ) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation ) under Germany's Excellence Strategy \u2013 EXC 2002/1 \u201CScience of Intelligence\u201D \u2013 project number 390523135 .

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