Grasping the other’s attention: The role of animacy in action cueing of joint attention

Abstract

The current experiment investigates the role of animacy on grasp-cueing effects as investigated in joint attention research. In a simple detection task participants responded to the colour change of one of two objects of identical size. Before the target onset, we presented a cueing stimulus consisting of either two human hands with a small and a large grip aperture (animate condition) or two comparable U-shaped figures with small and large aperture (inanimate condition). Depending on the size of the objects and the arrangement of the apertures (i.e., large aperture to the left and small aperture to the right or vice versa), either the left or right object matched the grasping hand or U-shapes. Our data show that biological grasping actions modulate the observer's attention whereas the perception of inanimate stimuli does not result in a comparable cueing effect. This strong impact of animacy on attentional priming suggests that grasp cueing represents a marker of a joint attention mechanism that involves spontaneous simulation of the observed motor behaviour.

Joint Attention, Social-Cognition, and Recognition Memory in Adults

“…In another study, Frischen and Tipper (2004) have published a seminal paper that indicates the cuing effects of the experience of JA triggers visual orienting and information processing responses that are significantly more resistant to inhibition of return (IOR) in adults than is observed in a non-social attention cuing task. Linderman et al (2011) have corroborated this finding in a study that shows that social attention cuing via hand gestures also leads to greater resistance to IOR than non-social cuing. Interesting, indirect comparison of the results of these last two studies suggests that gaze triggered cuing may lead to greater resistance to IOR than hand gesture cuing.…”

“Feeling” others' painful actions: The sensorimotor integration of pain and action information

“…We used the BrainMap database (http://www.brainmap.org), a comprehensive database that allows users to retrieve and analyze functional coordinates and accompanying metadata for a sampling of more than 1,700 papers [Fox and Lancaster, 2002; Laird et al, 2009]. The Sleuth software (version 1.2) was used to identify all studies in the BrainMap database that reported activation in two separate behavioral domains: (1) pain and (2) action execution.…”

“…To determine the likely spatial convergence of reported activations across studies, the resulting coordinates were submitted to an ALE (activation likelihood estimate) analysis, which takes spatial uncertainty into account, using GingerALE software [Laird et al, 2009] and thresholded with a false discovery rate of q < 0.05. The resulting statistical maps were visualized on the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) anatomical template using MRIcron software (http://www.cabiatl.com/mricro/).…”

Visual attention and action: How cueing, direct mapping, and social interactions drive orienting

“…Additional evidence in favour of direct mapping has paralleled that of predictive gaze paradigms. Using a slightly modified procedure, Lindemann, Nuku, Rueschemeyer, and Bekkering (2011) found that this effect was sensitive to the animacy of the perceived grasp aperture. The authors again interpret these results in the context of direct mapping, suggesting that covert attention shifts following observed actions are due to the simulation of similar attentional mechanisms required for the performance of a congruent action.…”

“…It may also be a powerful directional signal in its own right (Gervais et al, 2010). Finally, observing the actions of others may also orient attention because direct mapping, corepresentation, and mirroring of another's observed action may simulate the same attentional processes as when that action is performed (Falck-Ytter, 2012;Lindemann et al, 2011;Welsh et al, 2007). Nonetheless, the influence of manual action on attention and the relationship between manual action and gaze for orienting has been the subject of no integrated formal models in the literature.…”