• About
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   Institutional Repository Home
    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   Institutional Repository Home
    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of Institutional RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsDepartmentThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsDepartment

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Object-Relevant Kinematics Influence Imitative Compatibility

    Killingsworth, Stefanos Sherif
    : https://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/etd-07292012-144954
    http://hdl.handle.net/1803/13723
    : 2012-07-31

    Abstract

    One critical finding from the literature on embodied cognition is that people produce actions more efficiently when observing similar as compared to when observing different actions. This imitative compatibility effect has been typically studied with simple actions that have minimal ecological validity. The present dissertation presents five experiments that investigate how these compatibility effects are altered when participants produce actions with a familiar object (key pad), but view objectless actions made by an onscreen model hand. The mismatch in object directedness between observed and produced actions was adopted (1) to investigate whether compatibility effects are even possible when there is such a mismatch and, if possible, (2) to investigate how objects influence compatibility effects. The experiments here demonstrate that it is possible to obtain a compatibility effect under the mismatch conditions and reveal a compatibility specificity effect, in which flexions motions (curling of the fingers typical of a key press action) generate compatibility effects, but extension motions (straightening of the finger away from the palm) do not. Five experiments narrow the various components of participant motions for which compatibility effects may be specific and isolate particular kinematic patterns (i.e. extensions versus flexions) as a plausible cause for the observed specificity. These results broaden our understanding of compatibility effects and about links between action perception and production more generally. Furthermore, these results demonstrate that studies of human action can benefit from expanding their investigations beyond the connections between movement processing involved in action perception and production into how the relevant representations of action are situated within the action-environment interface. Finally, these findings may have important connections to other findings in the embodied cognition literature suggesting that perceiving a familiar object facilitates producing motions that are typical for using the object.
    Show full item record

    Files in this item

    Icon
    Name:
    SKillingsworth.pdf
    Size:
    3.857Mb
    Format:
    PDF
    View/Open

    This item appears in the following collection(s):

    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations

    Connect with Vanderbilt Libraries

    Your Vanderbilt

    • Alumni
    • Current Students
    • Faculty & Staff
    • International Students
    • Media
    • Parents & Family
    • Prospective Students
    • Researchers
    • Sports Fans
    • Visitors & Neighbors

    Support the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries

    Support the Library...Give Now

    Gifts to the Libraries support the learning and research needs of the entire Vanderbilt community. Learn more about giving to the Libraries.

    Become a Friend of the Libraries

    Quick Links

    • Hours
    • About
    • Employment
    • Staff Directory
    • Accessibility Services
    • Contact
    • Vanderbilt Home
    • Privacy Policy