ASPO-symposium ‘Behavioral Coordination: The state of the art’

March 24th, 2011

Dear colleagues,

I would like to bring to your attention the ASPO symposium ‘Behavioral Coordination: The state of the art’, which will be organized on March, 24th 2011 at Tilburg University.

Outstanding international and national speakers —all experts in the field— will present their recent work on behavioral coordination. As the speakers have different backgrounds, behavioral coordination-research will be discussed from neuro-, social, clinical, and experimental psychological perspectives. Thus, the symposium will provide you with a broad overview on behavioral coordination research, as well as provide you with an update on the most recent findings. For more specific information, please have a look at the program and abstracts presented below.

If you would like to attend, send an email before March 17th to: M.Stel@uvt.nl. Please note that ASPO-members will be given precedence for participation.

The program:

09.30-10.00 Welcome with coffee & tea10.00-11.00 Opening; Keynote speaker 1: Sukhvinder Obhi (Wilfrid Laurier University)

Mimicry, self and the human mirror system11.00-11.30 Kirsten Ruys (Utrecht University)

When competition merges people’s behavior: Interdependency activates shared action representations

11.30-12.00 Gero Lange (Radboud University Nijmegen)Mimicry and social anxiety: News from the VR lab

12.00-13.30 Lunch13.30-14.30 Keynote speaker 2: Marcel Brass (Ghent University)

When do we simulate behaviour of others?14.30-15.00 Daniel Lakens (Eindhoven University of Technology)

Sharing a rhythm: Synchronized individuals are perceived as a social unit15.00-15.30 Claire Ashton-James (University of Groningen)

Strategic functions of mimicry 15.30-16.00 Break with coffee & tea16.00-16.30 Barbara Muller (Radboud University Nijmegen)

When Pinocchio acts like a human, a wooden hand becomes embodied. Action co-representation for non-biological agents

16.30-17.00 Jessanne Mastop (Leiden University)Putting things in perspective: mimicking or complementing nonverbal behavior in the context of status and legitimacy

17.00 Closing remarks & drinks19.00 Dinner (Optional)

ABSTRACTS

KEYNOTE ADDRESS 1

Mimicry, self and the human mirror systemSukhvinder S. Obhi

Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada

Human beings are an intensely social species for whom building rapport and liking with others is advantageous. One way to facilitate increased rapport and social bonding is through non-conscious mimicry. Non-conscious mimicry has been studied extensively by social psychologists and many moderating factors have been identified such as the nature of an individual’s self construal. In addition, neurophysiological data shows that motor areas of the brain are automatically activated when an individual observes another individual moving (i.e., motor resonance). Despite the intuitive appeal of a functional link between the human mirror system and non-conscious mimicry, direct evidence is lacking. Here we show for the first time that specific factors that moderate the level of non-conscious mimicry also modulate the excitability of the human mirror system as indexed by the amplitude of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited via Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). Specifically, we show that the nature of an individual’s momentary self-construal changes the responsiveness of the human mirror system to another person’s actions, with interdependent self construal inducing hyper-motor resonance and independent self construal inducing hypo-motor resonance. We further demonstrate that the degree of non-conscious mimicry an individual exhibits is positively correlated with the amplitude of TMS induced MEPs during an action observation task. In further experiments, we demonstrate that engaging in a social interaction primes the mirror system for processing the actions of others, but critically this priming is specific to processing actions of another human and does not extend to non-biological movements of a robotic limb. Taken together, our results provide evidence for a functional link between the human mirror system and non-conscious mimicry, and also specify the effects of self-construal on the responsiveness of the human mirror system.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS 2

When do we simulate behaviour of others?Marcel Brass

Ghent University

Observing the behaviour of others activates a corresponding motor representation in the observer. In this sense we covertly synchronize with the people around us. The specific conditions, however, under which internal motor simulation occurs are not well understood. I will present experiments investigating these conditions. In particular, I will show that we only simulate behaviour that we perceive as intentional.

When Competition Merges People’s Behavior:Interdependency Activates Shared Action Representations

Kirsten I. RuysUtrecht University

Previous research suggests that friendly, cooperative situations cause one to integrate a co-actor’s actions into one’s own action system. Departing from an interdependency perspective, we predict the activation of shared action representations even in hostile, competitive situations as a result of attending to the intentions of the co-actor. To test this, in Experiment 1 we manipulated the interdependency between actor and co-actor in a joint Simon task and observed a stronger activation of shared action representations in a cooperative as well as competitive context compared to an independent context. Experiment 2 replicated the competitive context effect on activation of shared action representations and provided additional evidence for the mediating role of attending to others’ intentions by taking into account the individual tendency to attend to others’ intentions. Together, our findings suggest that interdependency merges people’s behavior even in competitive contexts, which we argue encourage actors to attend to others’ intentions.

Mimicry and Social Anxiety: News from the VR labWolf-Gero Lange, Janna N. Vrijsen, Ron Dotsch, Daniel Wigboldus, Eni Becker & Mike

RinckRadboud University Nijmegen

In social interaction, being imitated usually leads to a more positive evaluation of the imitator. As social anxiety is characterized by exaggerated fear of negative evaluation, but also by actual devaluation, both, perception of being mimicked by an interaction partner as well as showing mimicking behavior may play a crucial role herein. In study 1, socially anxious (SAs) and non-anxious control participants (NACs) interacted with two male avatars in a virtual reality environment. One avatar imitated the participant’s head movements inconspicuously while holding a speech, while the other did not. In study 2, SAs’ and NACs’ head movements were recorded while an avatar held a speech and moved his head on predefined moments. Both studies evidenced that processing and presenting mimicry is disrupted by social anxiety. SA did not appreciate being mimicked and they showed less mimicry when interacting with an avatar.

Sharing a Rhythm: Synchronized Individuals are Perceived as a Social UnitDaniël Lakens

Eindhoven University of Technology

Coordinated behavior patterns are one of the pillars of social interaction. One way people coordinate their behaviors is by synchronizing their movements, such as clapping when member of the audience clap their hands together at the same moment in time when applauding. At the core of behavioral synchrony research lies the assumption that through synchronized movement rhythms individuals are transformed into a social unit. I will present six studies that detail how observers use movement synchrony as a perceptual cue to determine the extent to which individuals are part of a social unit (their entitativity), and the

role attributions of rapport play in these entitativity judgments. Together, these studies underline that people intuitively draw inferences from non-verbal behavior to determine whether individuals share a psychological state, and use this information to determine the extent to which individuals are a social unit.

Strategic Functions of MimicryClaire Ashton-James

University of Groningen

Cognitive models of mimicry propose that the nonconscious imitation is a non-strategic reponse to the perceptual encoding or mental activation of behaviour. Alternatively, more recent developments in research on behavioural mimicry suggest that while automatic and nonconscious, interpersonal goals and interpersonal strategies may be critical to the expression of this nonconscious behaviour. This presentation will review research indicating that mimicry may be used as a means of achieving a range of social ends, including reproduction, concealment and prestige.

When Pinocchio Acts Like a Human, a Wooden Hand Becomes Embodied. Action Co-representation for Non-biological Agents

Barbara C. N. Müller, Marcel Brass, Simone Kühn, Chia-Chin Tsai, Wieteke Nieuwboer, Ap Dijksterhuis, Rick B. van Baaren

Radboud University NijmegenAction observation automatically activates corresponding motor representations in the observer, which is essential in coordinating actions with others. It is assumed that this co-representation system is activated by biological agents only. However, we often identify with biological agents, whereas this is not the case for non-biological agents. The present study investigated whether action co-representation depends on the perceived animacy of the non-biological interaction partner. Before performing a joint Simon task with either an animated image of a human or a wooden hand, participants either watched a video fragment of a biological agent, or of a non-biological agent, Pinocchio, to increase perceived animacy of this agent. Whereas participants who watched the ‘biological’ agent showed a Simon effect only when co-acting with a biological agent, participants who watched ‘non-biological’ agent (i.e. Pinocchio) showed a Simon effect only when co-acting with a non-biological agent. The present findings provide evidence for the assumption that motor simulation strongly depends on higher order processes.

Putting things in perspective: mimicking or complementing nonverbal behavior in the context of status and legitimacy

Jessanne Mastop1, Mariëlle Stel2, & Eric van Dijk1

1Leiden University, 2Tilburg University

Do people mimic or complement postures of others? Previous research showed that displayed behavior influences whether people mimic or complement and suggested that dominant postures evoke submissive postures and vice versa (i.e. complementarity). We argue, however, that when displayed behavior is put in the context of status roles, reactions might not always be complementary. We measured nonverbal reactions towards a target with a high or low status role, displaying a dominant or submissive posture. Results showed that postures

were mimicked more when the target showed a submissive posture and complemented more when the target showed a dominant posture, especially when the target had a high status role. Furthermore, we examined whether legitimacy of the status position of the target influenced reactions. Results show that when status was legitimate people mimicked the target more than when status was illegitimate, regardless of displayed behavior. Taken together, the current findings show that whether people mimic or complement others does not solely depend on the posture the targets display, but also on the context; the target’s status position and legitimacy.

For more information with regard to the ASPO-symposium, do not hesitate to contact me (M.Stel@uvt.nl).

Best wishes,Marielle Stel

Department of Social Psychology and TIBER (Tilburg Institute for Behavioral Economics Research), Tilburg University, Warandelaan 2, 5037 AB, Tilburg, The Netherlands, phone: +31(0)134668741, E-mail: M.stel@uvt.nl.