Automatic imitation: A meta-analysis

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Standard

Automatic imitation: A meta-analysis. / Cracco, Emiel; Bardi, Lara; Desmet, Charlotte et al.
In: Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 144, No. 5, 01.05.2018, p. 453-500.

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Harvard

Cracco, E, Bardi, L, Desmet, C, Genschow, O, Rigoni, D, Coster, LD, Radkova, I, Deschrijver, E & Brass, M 2018, 'Automatic imitation: A meta-analysis', Psychological Bulletin, vol. 144, no. 5, pp. 453-500. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000143

APA

Cracco, E., Bardi, L., Desmet, C., Genschow, O., Rigoni, D., Coster, L. D., Radkova, I., Deschrijver, E., & Brass, M. (2018). Automatic imitation: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 144(5), 453-500. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000143

Vancouver

Cracco E, Bardi L, Desmet C, Genschow O, Rigoni D, Coster LD et al. Automatic imitation: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin. 2018 May 1;144(5):453-500. doi: 10.1037/bul0000143

Bibtex

@article{e48de396435e4abaa2d93d174be9cacf,
title = "Automatic imitation: A meta-analysis",
abstract = "impeded by incompatible observed movements. In the past 15 years, automatic imitation has been studied to understand the relation between perception and action in social interaction. Although research on this topic started in cognitive science, interest quickly spread to related disciplines such as social psychology, clinical psychology, and neuroscience. However, important theoretical questions have remained unanswered. Therefore, in the present meta-analysis, we evaluated seven key questions on automatic imitation. The results, based on 161 studies containing 226 experiments, revealed an overall effect size of gz=0.95, 95% CI [0.88, 1.02]. Moderator analyses identified automatic imitation as a flexible, largely automatic process that is driven by movement and effector compatibility, but is also influenced by spatial compatibility. Automatic imitation was found to be stronger for forced choice tasks than for simple response tasks, for human agents than for nonhuman agents, and for goalless actions than for goal-directed actions. However, it was not modulated by more subtle factors such as animacy beliefs, motion profiles, or visual perspective. Finally, there was no evidence for a relation between automatic imitation and either empathy or autism. Among other things, these findings point toward actor-imitator similarity as a crucial modulator of automatic imitation and challenge the view that imitative tendencies are an indicator of social functioning. The current meta-analysis has important theoretical implications and sheds light on longstanding controversies in the literature on automatic imitation and related domains.",
keywords = "Automatic imitation, Imitation, Meta-analysis, Mimicry, Review, Business psychology",
author = "Emiel Cracco and Lara Bardi and Charlotte Desmet and Oliver Genschow and Davide Rigoni and Coster, {Lize De} and Ina Radkova and Eliane Deschrijver and Marcel Brass",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 American Psychological Association.",
year = "2018",
month = may,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1037/bul0000143",
language = "English",
volume = "144",
pages = "453--500",
journal = "Psychological Bulletin",
issn = "0033-2909",
publisher = "American Psychological Association Inc.",
number = "5",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Automatic imitation

T2 - A meta-analysis

AU - Cracco, Emiel

AU - Bardi, Lara

AU - Desmet, Charlotte

AU - Genschow, Oliver

AU - Rigoni, Davide

AU - Coster, Lize De

AU - Radkova, Ina

AU - Deschrijver, Eliane

AU - Brass, Marcel

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2018 American Psychological Association.

PY - 2018/5/1

Y1 - 2018/5/1

N2 - impeded by incompatible observed movements. In the past 15 years, automatic imitation has been studied to understand the relation between perception and action in social interaction. Although research on this topic started in cognitive science, interest quickly spread to related disciplines such as social psychology, clinical psychology, and neuroscience. However, important theoretical questions have remained unanswered. Therefore, in the present meta-analysis, we evaluated seven key questions on automatic imitation. The results, based on 161 studies containing 226 experiments, revealed an overall effect size of gz=0.95, 95% CI [0.88, 1.02]. Moderator analyses identified automatic imitation as a flexible, largely automatic process that is driven by movement and effector compatibility, but is also influenced by spatial compatibility. Automatic imitation was found to be stronger for forced choice tasks than for simple response tasks, for human agents than for nonhuman agents, and for goalless actions than for goal-directed actions. However, it was not modulated by more subtle factors such as animacy beliefs, motion profiles, or visual perspective. Finally, there was no evidence for a relation between automatic imitation and either empathy or autism. Among other things, these findings point toward actor-imitator similarity as a crucial modulator of automatic imitation and challenge the view that imitative tendencies are an indicator of social functioning. The current meta-analysis has important theoretical implications and sheds light on longstanding controversies in the literature on automatic imitation and related domains.

AB - impeded by incompatible observed movements. In the past 15 years, automatic imitation has been studied to understand the relation between perception and action in social interaction. Although research on this topic started in cognitive science, interest quickly spread to related disciplines such as social psychology, clinical psychology, and neuroscience. However, important theoretical questions have remained unanswered. Therefore, in the present meta-analysis, we evaluated seven key questions on automatic imitation. The results, based on 161 studies containing 226 experiments, revealed an overall effect size of gz=0.95, 95% CI [0.88, 1.02]. Moderator analyses identified automatic imitation as a flexible, largely automatic process that is driven by movement and effector compatibility, but is also influenced by spatial compatibility. Automatic imitation was found to be stronger for forced choice tasks than for simple response tasks, for human agents than for nonhuman agents, and for goalless actions than for goal-directed actions. However, it was not modulated by more subtle factors such as animacy beliefs, motion profiles, or visual perspective. Finally, there was no evidence for a relation between automatic imitation and either empathy or autism. Among other things, these findings point toward actor-imitator similarity as a crucial modulator of automatic imitation and challenge the view that imitative tendencies are an indicator of social functioning. The current meta-analysis has important theoretical implications and sheds light on longstanding controversies in the literature on automatic imitation and related domains.

KW - Automatic imitation

KW - Imitation

KW - Meta-analysis

KW - Mimicry

KW - Review

KW - Business psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85042660481&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1037/bul0000143

DO - 10.1037/bul0000143

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 29517262

AN - SCOPUS:85042660481

VL - 144

SP - 453

EP - 500

JO - Psychological Bulletin

JF - Psychological Bulletin

SN - 0033-2909

IS - 5

ER -

DOI