When Imitation Meets Context: The Case of Initiative Complementary Action

Abstract

Numerous studies have shown when perceiving the body movements of other people, we automatically imitate the observed actions through our motor system. Under certain social contexts, however, automatic imitation is not always beneficial, and a complementary action (which appears as a reversal imitation action) is instead required. Past research on this topic mainly focused on “passive” complementary actions, which were triggered by external actions that are bound by the requirements or meanings of social interaction. The present study investigated the activation of “initiative” complementary action in the absence of requests for interaction by an agent. Through a motor priming paradigm, it was found that complementary actions arose in a dropping action situation, wherein an object held by an actor was suddenly dropped as it is moved towards the plate. But this was only observed when the actors carried out the action using their left hands. This finding suggests that “initiative” complementary action can be performed in situations wherein external action does not require to interact with the observer. This supports and extends the idea that complementary actions are highly responsive to social context.