An investigation of the determinants of motor contagion in preschool children

The influence of action perception on action execution has been demonstrated by studies of motor contagion in which the observation of an action interferes with the concurrent execution of a different action. The current study extends prior work on the extent of motor contagion in early childhood, a period of development when the effects of action observation on action execution may be particularly salient. During a classroom story reading, children (mean age 4.8 years) were familiarized with two different-colored bears, one of which was used as a seemingly animate hand puppet while the other bear remained lifeless and inanimate. Children then completed a task in which they were instructed to move a stylus on a graphics tablet in the presence of background videos of each bear making horizontal arm movements which had biological (human-moved) or non-biological (machine-moved) origins. Motor contagion was assessed as the variability of stylus movements in the horizontal axis when children were instructed to produce vertical stylus movements. Significant levels of motor contagion were seen when children observed the previously animate bear in the non-biological motion condition and when they observed the previously inanimate bear in the biological motion condition. For future studies of social perception, this finding points to the potential importance of examining mismatches between prior experience with (or knowledge about) a particular agent and the subsequent behavior of that agent in a different context.

► We investigated the specific determinants of motor contagion in preschool children. ► We manipulated prior experience with the observed model as animate or inanimate. ► We also manipulated the velocity profile of observed movements. ► Motor contagion was greatest when observed movements violated expectations. ► Findings show an effect of top-down processes on the extent of motor contagion.