The role of mental imagery in pantomimes of actions towards and away from the body

Ruotolo, Francesco; Iachini, Tina; Ruggiero, Gennaro; Tella, Gianluca Scotto di; Ott, Laurent; Bartolo, Angela

doi:10.1007/s00426-020-01359-4

Cited by 12 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Moreover, results showed longer RTs with AB objects than with TB ones. This could be due to the different representational processes involved in AB and TB movements (Ruotolo, Iachini et al, 2020). TB objects require imaging the relationship between the object and the participant's own body, whereas AB objects also require imaging the relationship between the object and another object in the external world (e.g., the hammer is used to hit a nail).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a consequence, action planning with AB objects might reflect the habitual necessity of considering the multiple spatial relations between elements of the environment in which the action is performed. Ruotolo, Iachini, et al (2020) suggested that actions with TB objects are more linked to motor imagery processes, whereas actions with AB objects additionally involve visuo-spatial imagery processes useful to represent objects in the external environment (see also Kosslyn et al, 2001;Sirigu & Duhamel, 2001). This higher cognitive load could explain why the time spent in categorising AB objects was longer than for TB objects, when the actions were overtly represented (Experiment 1).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Towards and away from the body: The relevance of the direction of use in the coding of object-related actions

Tella

Ruotolo

Ruggiero

et al. 2021

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

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This study examines whether the perception of an object automatically activates the representation of the direction of use of that object. To this aim, we carried out two experiments. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to explicitly categorize objects as used either away from (AB, e.g. a hammer) or toward the body (TB, e.g. a toothbrush). In Experiment 2, participants were asked to judge whether the same objects were natural or manmade. In both experiments, they were asked to respond by moving a joystick backwards (i.e. toward the body) or frontwards (i.e. away from the body). Therefore, their response could either be congruent (i.e. backward response with TB objects, frontward response with AB objects) or incongruent (i.e. backward response with AB objects, frontward response with TB objects) with the direction of object use. Results from Experiment 1 showed that in the congruent condition, participants were faster in judging the direction of object use than those in the incongruent condition (congruency effect). Crucially, results from Experiment 2 showed the presence of a congruency effect even when the direction of object use was task-irrelevant. However, this effect was found only for TB objects. These results suggest that the perception of TB objects automatically activates the direction of object use with respect to the body, thus showing evidence of direct connection between perception and action. A specific role of the body might account for different action representation processes involved in TB and AB object-related actions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards and away from the body: The relevance of the direction of use in the coding of object-related actions

Tella

Ruotolo

Ruggiero

et al. 2021

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

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“…It is possible that the participants recognized their own movement accurately but could not perform the REP. However, a previous study suggested that the reproduced movement of tool-use action without holding the tool is likely based on internally recognized movement 1 . Thus, the reproduction capability would reflect the participant’s ability to recognize their own skilled movement.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…The movement of a hand holding a real object may differ from the same movement reproduced using memory without holding the object. The reproduced movement is likely based on internally recognized movement 1 . Therefore, dissociation of the reproduced movement from the movement using an object originates from inaccurate recognition of the movement.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recognition capability of one’s own skilled movement is dissociated from acquisition of motor skill memory

Mizuguchi

Tsuchimoto

Fujii

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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When we have rehearsed a movement using an object, we can reproduce the movement without holding the object. However, the reproduced movement sometimes differs from the movement holding a real object, likely because movement recognition is inaccurate. In the present study, we tested whether the recognition capability was dissociated from the acquisition of motor skill memory. Twelve novices were asked to rotate two balls with their right hand as quickly as possible; they practiced the task for 29 days. To evaluate recognition capability, we calculated the difference in coordination pattern of all five digits between the ball-rotation movement and the reproduced movement without holding balls. The recognition capability did not change within the first day, but improved after one week of practice. On the other hand, performance of the ball rotation significantly improved within the first day. Since improvement of performance is likely associated with acquisition of motor skill memory, we suggest that recognition capability, which reflects the capability to cognitively access motor skill memory, was dissociated from the acquisition of motor skill memory. Therefore, recognition of one’s own skilled movement would rely on a hierarchical structure of acquisition of motor skill memory and cognitive access to that memory.

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“…It is relevant that execution and comprehension of pantomime gestures strongly rely on mental imagery abilities (e.g. [56]), which also contribute to the process of scene construction [57]. These considerations open the way to the possibility that pantomimic narrative, being able to evoke visual representations of a narrative scene that enhance the transportive experience into story world, is an effective means of persuasion.…”

Section: Persuasion Narrative and Pantomimic Communication In Archaic Homininsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Persuasive conversation as a new form of communication inHomo sapiens

Ferretti

Adornetti

2021

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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The aim of this paper is twofold: to propose that conversation is the distinctive feature of Homo sapiens ' communication; and to show that the emergence of modern language is tied to the transition from pantomime to verbal and grammatically complex forms of narrative. It is suggested that (animal and human) communication is a form of persuasion and that storytelling was the best tool developed by humans to convince others. In the early stage of communication, archaic hominins used forms of pantomimic storytelling to persuade others. Although pantomime is a powerful tool for persuasive communication , it is proposed that it is not an effective tool for persuasive conversation : conversation is characterized by a form of reciprocal persuasion among peers; instead, pantomime has a mainly asymmetrical character. The selective pressure towards persuasive reciprocity of the conversational level is the evolutionary reason that allowed the transition from pantomime to grammatically complex codes in H. sapiens , which favoured the evolution of speech. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Reconstructing prehistoric languages’.

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The role of mental imagery in pantomimes of actions towards and away from the body

Cited by 12 publications

References 62 publications

Towards and away from the body: The relevance of the direction of use in the coding of object-related actions

Towards and away from the body: The relevance of the direction of use in the coding of object-related actions

Recognition capability of one’s own skilled movement is dissociated from acquisition of motor skill memory

Persuasive conversation as a new form of communication inHomo sapiens

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