Stimulus-response Compatibility Task Research Articles

Automatic imitation is modulated by stimulus clarity but not by animacy

Observing actions evokes an automatic imitative response that activates mechanisms required to execute these actions. Automatic imitation is measured using the Stimulus Response Compatibility (SRC) task, which presents participants with compatible and incompatible prompt-distractor pairs. Automatic imitation, or the compatibility effect, is the difference in response times (RTs) between incompatible and compatible trials. Past results suggest that an action’s animacy affects automatic imitation: human-produced actions evoke larger effects than computer-generated actions. However, it appears that animacy effects occur mostly when non-human stimuli are less complex or less clear. Theoretical accounts make conflicting predictions regarding both stimulus manipulations. We conducted two SRC experiments that presented participants with an animacy manipulation (human and computer-generated stimuli, Experiment 1) and a clarity manipulation (stimuli with varying visual clarity using Gaussian blurring, Experiments 1 and 2) to tease apart effect of these manipulations. Participants in Experiment 1 responded slower for incompatible than for compatible trials, showing a compatibility effect. Experiment 1 found a null effect of animacy, but stimuli with lower visual clarity evoked smaller compatibility effects. Experiment 2 modulated clarity in five steps and reports decreasing compatibility effects for stimuli with lower clarity. Clarity, but not animacy, therefore affected automatic imitation, and theoretical implications and future directions are considered.

Approach-avoidance tendencies in proactive and reactive aggression.

Aggressive behaviors have been related to approach/avoidance tendencies. In our current study, we investigated whether approach/avoidance tendencies for angry versus fearful emotional expressions were differentially predictive of children's reactive and proactive aggression. A total of 116 children (58 girls, Mage = 10.90, standard deviation SDage = 0.98) completed an approach/avoidance task (AAT) and a stimulus-response compatibility task (SRCT), both measuring the extent to which they tended to approach or avoid angry and fearful facial expressions relative to neutral facial expressions. Children also completed a self-report scale of reactive and proactive aggression. Although none of the approach/avoidance tendency scores correlated significantly with either of the aggression scores, stronger approach tendencies for angry faces and stronger avoidance tendencies for fearful faces in the AAT predicted more reactive aggression. Similar yet nonsignificant results were found for proactive aggression, but no effects were replicated in the SRCT. Our results thus invite the conclusion that reactive aggression is characterized by a tendency to approach angry faces and a tendency to avoid fearful faces. However, the poor discrimination between both types of aggression as well as the lack of convergence between the results of our two measures of approach/avoidance tendencies indicates that further research is needed to establish the role of approach/avoidance tendencies for emotional faces as markers for childhood aggression.

The curvature effect: Approach-avoidance tendencies in response to interior design stimuli

Previous research suggests that curved vs. angular interior environments trigger affective (e.g., preference) and behavioural (e.g., approach-avoidance) responses. Yet, behavioural responses have mainly been assessed through explicit evaluations, such as self-reports. We aimed to investigate this phenomenon more ‘implicitly’ using a battery of reaction time (RT) paradigms, particularly focusing on approach-avoidance tendencies.Online participants (initial N = 219) undertook four randomized tasks involving 20 photo-realistic living room images matched for contours (angular vs. curved) and styles (modern vs. classic). We intended to capture attentional (Dot Probe Task [DPT]), motoric (Approach Avoidance Task [AAT]), as well as associative-semantic (Implicit Association Task [IAT]) and -motoric (Stimulus Response Compatibility Task [SRCT]) biases towards contours.The DPT and AAT showed no significant effects. However, we observed a significant congruency effect in the IAT (F(1,192) = 97.51, p < .001, ƞ2 = 0.074), whereby images were assigned faster into categories when those were curved-approach and angular-avoid (instead of curved-avoid, angular-approach). Additionally, we found a significant direction x contour interaction (F(1,179) = 7.08, p = .009, ƞ2 = 0.004) in the SRCT, attributable to within-curvature differences (faster approach compared to avoidance). Moreover, within-directions comparisons revealed a faster avoidance of angular than curved conditions.Our findings confirmed an effect of contours on approach-avoidance tendencies using RT paradigms. We identified semantic associations between curvature and approach and angularity and avoidance behaviour. Furthermore, we demonstrated differential approach (faster) – avoidance (slower) representations in relation to curvature rather than an avoidance of angularity. These findings may hint towards (partially) automatic responses to contours in interior design, which in addition to self-reports, should be further researched concerning criterion validity, such as in correlation with physiological and psychological reactions to built spaces.

Automatic imitation of speech is enhanced for non-native sounds

Simulation accounts of speech perception posit that speech is covertly imitated to support perception in a top-down manner. Behaviourally, covert imitation is measured through the stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) task. In each trial of a speech SRC task, participants produce a target speech sound whilst perceiving a speech distractor that either matches the target (compatible condition) or does not (incompatible condition). The degree to which the distractor is covertly imitated is captured by the automatic imitation effect, computed as the difference in response times (RTs) between compatible and incompatible trials. Simulation accounts disagree on whether covert imitation is enhanced when speech perception is challenging or instead when the speech signal is most familiar to the speaker. To test these accounts, we conducted three experiments in which participants completed SRC tasks with native and non-native sounds. Experiment 1 uncovered larger automatic imitation effects in an SRC task with non-native sounds than with native sounds. Experiment 2 replicated the finding online, demonstrating its robustness and the applicability of speech SRC tasks online. Experiment 3 intermixed native and non-native sounds within a single SRC task to disentangle effects of perceiving non-native sounds from confounding effects of producing non-native speech actions. This last experiment confirmed that automatic imitation is enhanced for non-native speech distractors, supporting a compensatory function of covert imitation in speech perception. The experiment also uncovered a separate effect of producing non-native speech actions on enhancing automatic imitation effects.

Approach-avoidance behavior and motor-specific modulation towards smoking-related cues in smokers.

By performing three transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) experiments, we measured the motor-specific modulatory mechanisms in the primary motor cortex (M1) at both the intercortical and intracortical levels when smokers actively approach or avoid smoking-related cues. For all experiments, the design was group (smokers versus non-smokers) × action (approach versus avoidance) × image type (neutral versus smoking-related). The study was conducted at the Shanghai University of Sport, CHN, TMS Laboratory. For experiment 1, 30 non-smokers and 30 smokers; for experiment 2, 16 non-smokers and 16 smokers; for experiment 3, 16 non-smokers and 16 smokers. For all experiments, the reaction times were measured using the smoking stimulus-response compatibility task. While performing the task, single-pulse TMS was applied to the M1 in experiment 1 to measure the excitability of the corticospinal pathways, and paired-pulse TMS was applied to the M1 in experiments 2 and 3 to measure the activity of intracortical facilitation (ICF) and short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) circuits, respectively. Smokers had faster responses when approaching smoking-related cues (F1,58 = 36.660, P < 0.001, p 2 = 0.387), accompanied by higher excitability of the corticospinal pathways (F1,58 = 10.980, P = 0.002, p 2 = 0.159) and ICF circuits (F1,30 = 22.187, P < 0.001, p 2 = 0.425), while stronger SICI effects were observed when they avoided these cues (F1,30 = 10.672, P = 0.003, p 2 = 0.262). Smokers appear to have shorter reaction times, higher motor-evoked potentials and stronger intracortical facilitation effects when performing approach responses to smoking-related cues and longer reaction times, a lower primary motor cortex descending pathway excitability and a stronger short-interval intracortical inhibition effect when avoiding them.

Reliability of and associations between cognitive bias measures and response inhibition in smoking

Background and objectiveTheoretical models propose that different cognitive biases are caused by a common underlying mechanism (incentive salience/“wanting”) and should, therefore, be interrelated. Additionally, stronger impulsive processes should be related to weaker inhibitory abilities. However, these assumptions have hardly been empirically tested and key psychometric information have hardly been reported in samples of smokers. To extent previous research, the present study aimed (1) to estimate the reliability (split-half) of different cognitive bias measures and (2) to investigate associations between attention, approach and associative biases, response inhibition, and smoking-related variables. MethodsEighty current, non-deprived smokers completed the following tasks in random order: Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT), Stimulus-Response Compatibility Task (SRCT), Implicit-Association Tests (IAT, approach-avoid, valence), Dotprobe Task, Go-/NoGo Task (GNGT). Additionally, different smoking-related variables were assessed. Split-half reliabilities of the different cognitive (bias) measures and correlations between them were calculated. ResultsSplit-half reliabilities of the AAT, the SRCT, and the Dotprobe Task were unacceptable whereas both IATs and the GNGT showed good to excellent reliability. Smoking-approach associations were significantly related to nicotine dependence; however, none of the cognitive bias measures correlated with response inhibition or smoking-related variables. LimitationsPictorial stimuli were the same across paradigms and might not have been relevant to all participants. ConclusionsThis is the first study to investigate the association between different cognitive biases, response inhibition, and smoking-related variables. Although findings are at odds with theoretical assumptions, their interpretation is clearly restricted by the low reliability of the cognitive bias measures.

Automatic imitation of human and computer-generated vocal stimuli

Observing someone perform an action automatically activates neural substrates associated with executing that action. This covert response, or automatic imitation, is measured behaviourally using the stimulus–response compatibility (SRC) task. In an SRC task, participants are presented with compatible and incompatible response–distractor pairings (e.g., an instruction to say “ba” paired with an audio recording of “da” as an example of an incompatible trial). Automatic imitation is measured as the difference in response times (RT) or accuracy between incompatible and compatible trials. Larger automatic imitation effects have been interpreted as a larger covert imitation response. Past results suggest that an action’s biological status affects automatic imitation: Human-produced manual actions show enhanced automatic imitation effects compared with computer-generated actions. Per the integrated theory for language comprehension and production, action observation triggers a simulation process to recognize and interpret observed speech actions involving covert imitation. Human-generated actions are predicted to result in increased automatic imitation because the simulation process is predicted to engage more for actions produced by a speaker who is more similar to the listener. We conducted an online SRC task that presented participants with human and computer-generated speech stimuli to test this prediction. Participants responded faster to compatible than incompatible trials, showing an overall automatic imitation effect. Yet the human-generated and computer-generated vocal stimuli evoked similar automatic imitation effects. These results suggest that computer-generated speech stimuli evoke the same covert imitative response as human stimuli, thus rejecting predictions from the integrated theory of language comprehension and production.

Reliability and convergence of approach/avoidance bias assessment tasks in the food consumption domain.

Theories of motivation posit that people will more readily approach positive or appetitive stimuli, and there has been growing interest in the relationship between biases in approach and avoidance behaviours for food cues and food craving and consumption behaviour. Two paradigms commonly employed by research to investigate this relationship are the approach-avoidance task (AAT) and the stimulus-response compatibility task (SRCT). However, it is yet to be determined whether the measures yielded by these tasks reflect the same processes operating in the food craving and consumption domain. The present study examined the internal reliability and convergence of AAT and SRCT paradigms in their assessment of biased approach to unhealthy compared with healthy food stimuli, and whether the measures yielded by the AAT and SRCT paradigms demonstrated associations with individual differences in food craving and eating behaviour. One hundred twenty-one participants completed an SRCT, an AAT using an arm movement response mode, and an AAT using a key-press response mode. The measures yielded comparable and acceptable levels of internal consistency, but convergence between the different task bias scores was modest or absent, and only approach bias as measured with the AAT task using an arm movement response mode was associated with self-report measures of eating behaviour and trait food craving. Thus, tasks did not converge strongly enough to be considered equivalent measures of approach/avoidance biases, and the AAT task using an arm movement response seems uniquely suited to detect approach biases argued to characterise maladaptive eating behaviour and craving.

Joint Simon effect in movement trajectories.

In joint action literature it is often assumed that acting together is driven by pervasive and automatic process of co-representation, that is, representing the co-actor’s part of the task in addition to one’s own. Much of this research employs joint stimulus-response compatibility tasks varying the stimuli employed or the physical and social relations between participants. In this study we test the robustness of co-representation effects by focusing instead on variation in response modality. Specifically, we implement a mouse-tracking version of a Joint Simon Task in which participants respond by producing continuous movements with a computer mouse rather than pushing discrete buttons. We have three key findings. First, in a replication of an earlier study we show that in a classical individual Simon Task movement trajectories show greater curvature on incongruent trials, paralleling longer response times. Second, this effect largely disappears in a Go-NoGo Simon Task, in which participants respond to only one of the cues and refrain from responding to the other. Third, contrary to previous studies that use button pressing responses, we observe no overall effect in the joint variants of the task. However, we also detect a notable diversity in movement strategies adopted by the participants, with some participants showing the effect on the individual level. Our study casts doubt on the pervasiveness of co-representation, highlights the usefulness of mouse-tracking methodology and emphasizes the need for looking at individual variation in task performance.

Assessing Automatic Approach-Avoidance Behavior in an Immersive Virtual Environment

The use of virtual reality (VR) promises enormous potential for studying human behavior. While approach and avoidance tendencies have been explored in various areas of basic and applied psychology, such as attitude and emotion research, basic learning psychology, and behavior therapy, they have rarely been studied in VR. One major focus of this research is to understand the psychological mechanisms underlying automatic behavioral tendencies towards and away from positively or negatively evaluated stimuli. We implemented a whole-body movement stimulus-response compatibility task to explore approach-avoidance behavior in an immersive virtual environment. We chose attitudinal stimuli—spiders and butterflies—on which people widely agree in their general evaluations (in that people evaluate spiders negatively and butterflies positively), while there is still substantial inter-individual variance (i. e., the intensity in which people dislike spiders or like butterflies). We implemented two parallel approach-avoidance tasks, one in VR, one desktop-based. Both tasks revealed the expected compatibility effects that were positively intercorrelated. Interestingly, however, the compatibility effect in the VR measure was unrelated to participants’ self-reported fear of spiders and stimulus evaluations. These results raise important implications about the usage of VR to study automatic behavioral tendencies.

When symmetric and curved visual contour meet intentional instructions: Hedonic value and preference.

Symmetry and contour take part in shaping visual preference. However, less is known about their combined contribution to preference. We examined the hedonic tone and preference triggered by the interaction of symmetry and contour. Symmetric/curved, symmetric/sharp-angled, asymmetric/curved, and asymmetric/sharp-angled stimuli were presented in an implicit and explicit task. The implicit task consisted of an affective stimulus-response compatibility task where participants matched the stimuli with positive and negative valence response cues. The explicit task recorded liking ratings from the same stimuli. We used instructed mindset to induce participants to focus on symmetry or contour in different parts of the experimental session. We found an implicit compatibility of symmetry and curvature with positive hedonic tone. Explicit results showed preference for symmetry and curvature. In both tasks, symmetry and curvature showed a cumulative interaction, with a larger contribution of symmetry to the overall effect. While symmetric and asymmetric stimuli contributed to the implicit positive valence of symmetry, the effect of curvature was mainly caused by inclination towards curved contours rather than rejection of sharp-angled contours. We did not find any correlation between implicit and explicit measures, suggesting that they may involve different cognitive processing.

Imitation or Polarity Correspondence? Behavioural and Neurophysiological Evidence for the Confounding Influence of Orthogonal Spatial Compatibility on Measures of Automatic Imitation

During social interactions, humans tend to imitate one another involuntarily. To investigate the neurocognitive mechanisms driving this tendency, researchers often employ stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) tasks to assess the influence that action observation has on action execution. This is referred to as automatic imitation (AI). The stimuli used frequently in SRC procedures to elicit AI often confound action-related with other nonsocial influences on behaviour; however, in response to the rotated hand-action stimuli employed increasingly, AI partly reflects unspecific up-right/down-left biases in stimulus-response mapping. Despite an emerging awareness of this confounding orthogonal spatial-compatibility effect, psychological and neuroscientific research into social behaviour continues to employ these stimuli to investigate AI. To increase recognition of this methodological issue, the present study measured the systematic influence of orthogonal spatial effects on behavioural and neurophysiological measures of AI acquired with rotated hand-action stimuli in SRC tasks. In Experiment 1, behavioural data from a large sample revealed that complex orthogonal spatial effects exert an influence on AI over and above any topographical similarity between observed and executed actions. Experiment 2 reproduced this finding in a more systematic, within-subject design, and high-density electroencephalography revealed that electrocortical expressions of AI elicited also are modulated by orthogonal spatial compatibility. Finally, source localisations identified a collection of cortical areas sensitive to this spatial confound, including nodes of the multiple-demand and semantic-control networks. These results indicate that AI measured on SRC procedures with the rotated hand stimuli used commonly might reflect neurocognitive mechanisms associated with spatial associations rather than imitative tendencies.

Imitation in one's own presence: No specific effect of self-focus on imitation

Previous studies have reported that imitative responses may be modulated by top-down social factors such as self-focus. However, growing evidence suggests that such social factors may actually modulate domain-general processes such as spatially compatible responding, rather than specifically social processes such as imitation. In this study, we aimed to identify the cognitive processes being modulated under conditions of heightened or diminished self-focus. Participants performed a stimulus-response compatibility task which independently measures both spatial and imitative response tendencies, under two conditions: heightened self-focus, where the task was performed in the presence of two mirrors; and diminished self-focus, where the mirrors were covered. While participants were faster to respond to compatible trials than to incompatible trials, both imitatively and spatially, there was no significant modulation of either spatial or imitative compatibility by self-focus; although the magnitude of the modulation of spatial compatibility was numerically similar to the effect of self-focus on imitation found in previous studies. These results provide no evidence for an effect of self-focus on either social-specific, or domain-general, processes.

Spatial\u2013numerical associations in the presence of an avatar

When we interact with other people or avatars, they often provide an alternative spatial frame of reference compared to our own. Previous studies introduced avatars into stimulus–response compatibility tasks and demonstrated compatibility effects as if the participant was viewing the task from the avatar’s point of view. However, the origin of this effect of perspective taking remained unclear. To distinguish changes in stimulus coding from changes in response coding, caused by the avatar, two experiments were conducted that combined a SNARC task and a spontaneous visual perspective taking task to specify the role of response coding. We observed compatibility effects that were based on the avatar’s perspective rather than the participants’ own. Because number magnitude was independent of the avatar’s perspective, the observed changes in compatibility caused by different perspectives indicate changes in response coding. These changes in response coding are only significant when they are accompanied by visual action effects.

The Magnitude Effect on Tactile Spatial Representation: The Spatial–Tactile Association for Response Code (STARC) Effect

The human brain uses perceptual information to create a correct representation of the external world. Converging data indicate that the perceptual processing of, space, and quantities frequently is based on a shared mental magnitude system, where low and high quantities are represented in the left and right space, respectively. The present study explores how the magnitude affects spatial representation in the tactile modality. We investigated these processes using stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility tasks (i.e., sensorimotor tasks that present an association/dissociation between the perception of a stimulus and the required action, generally increasing/decreasing accuracy and decreasing/increasing reaction times of the subject). In our study, the participant performed a discrimination task between high- and low-frequency vibrotactile stimuli, regardless of the stimulation’s spatial position. When the response code was incompatible with the mental magnitude line (i.e., left button for high-frequency and right button for low-frequency responses), we found that the participants bypassed the spatial congruence, showing a magnitude S-R compatibility effect. We called this phenomenon the Spatial–Tactile Association of Response Codes (STARC) effect. Moreover, we observed that the internal frame of reference embodies the STARC effect. Indeed, the participants’ performance reversed between uncrossed- and crossed-hands posture, suggesting that spatial reference frames play a role in the process of expressing mental magnitude, at least in terms of the tactile modality.

Lateralized readiness potentials and sensorimotor activity in adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients are known to have various functional abnormalities in prefrontal and motor areas. Given the presence of compulsions in many OCD patients, impaired response preparation processes could be a core feature of OCD. Yet, these processes remain understudied from a neurophysiological standpoint. Nineteen OCD patients were matched on age and sex to 19 healthy controls. Continuous EEG was recorded in all participants during a stimulus-response compatibility task. EEG from electrodes C3 and C4 was then averaged into stimulus- and response-locked LRPs. We compared both groups on various LRP measures, such as the LRP onset, the Gratton dip, and the maximum LRP peak. OCD patients showed significantly larger LRP peak than healthy controls, as well as larger Gratton dip. However, there was no group difference regarding LRP onset. Among OCD patients, it seems that motor regions are overactive during response preparation. Such overactivity was found for both incorrect responses that are aborted before execution and responses that are truly executed. These results suggest that regulation of sensorimotor activity should be addressed in the treatment of OCD.

The Effects of Computer-Based and Motor-Imagery Training on Scoring Ability in Lacrosse.

Previous studies have confirmed that the temporal attentional control created by the repetition of stimulus–response compatibility (SRC) tasks was transferred to shooting skills in lacrosse players. In the current study, we investigated whether combining motor imagery training with SRC tasks could enhance the scoring ability of lacrosse players. We grouped 33 male lacrosse players into three groups: an SRC task and motor imagery group (referred as to SRC + Image), an SRC task group, and a control group. Players in the first two groups underwent five sessions of 200 SRC task trials. In addition, the SRC + Image group completed five sessions of motor-imagery training. The control group underwent no training interventions. All three groups performed a lacrosse shooting test and a Simon task before and after training sessions to assess the magnitude of the interference effects of the various types of training they underwent. The results of the Simon task showed that repetition of 1,000 trials was enough to create a short-term representation with the incompatible special mapping being transferred to a dynamic activity like lacrosse shooting. Moreover, a combination of a computer-based Type 2 task and motor-imagery training could effectively increase players’ scoring abilities in a field of large spatial conflict.

No evidence for automatic response activation with target onset in the avatar-compatibility task

When people take the perspective of an avatar and perform a stimulus-response compatibility task, they generally show the same compatibility effects that are expected from the avatar’s position instead of their own. In this study, we investigated if these effects are caused by automatic response activation, a concept featured in dual-route models of stimulus-response compatibility. In two experiments we asked 24 participants each to perform a compatibility task from an avatar’s point of view. We introduced a delay between the presentation of the target and the avatar in half of the trials so that the participants had to wait until the avatar appeared to select the correct response. Because the automatic response activation is known to decay quickly, its influence is eliminated in this condition. In contrast to the prediction by the automatic response activation account, we observed a larger compatibility effect in the delayed condition with orthogonal (Experiment 1) and parallel (Experiment 2) stimulus-response pairings. Additionally, distributional analyses of the compatibility effects did not support the automaticity predictions. We conclude that these results call into question the role of automatic response activation for spatial compatibility in general and perspective-based compatibility effects in particular.

Support from a TMS/MEP study for a direct link between positive/negative stimuli and approach/avoidance tendencies

Previous behavioral studies using stimulus-response compatibility tasks have shown that people are faster to carry out instructed approach/avoidance responses to positive/negative stimuli. This result has been taken as evidence that positive/negative stimulus valence directly activates a tendency to approach/avoid, which in turn, facilitates execution of instructed approach/avoidance behavior. In these studies, however, it cannot be excluded that the results reflect a purely semantic link between stimulus valence and instructed responses. According to this alternative interpretation, positive/negative stimuli do not elicit an approach/avoidance tendency, but instead they interact with the positive/negative valence of the instructed responses, and in this way, produce the observed compatibility effect. To circumvent this possible disadvantage of compatibility tasks, we used a novel method for the measurement of early action tendencies: TMS induced MEPs. In two experiments, participants were first trained to abduct the index finger to approach and the thumb to avoid. Then, they observed a series of positive and negative stimuli. Each stimulus was followed by a TMS pulse (at 400 ms post-stimulus onset) and MEPs were measured continuously on the muscles of both fingers. These observation trials were randomly intermixed with response trials, in which neutral stimuli were presented and participants were instructed to approach/avoid the stimuli. In Experiment 1, participants received clear visual feedback on the outcome of their response in the response trials. In Experiment 2, we omitted this feedback to test whether it was necessary for the effect to occur. The results indicated higher MEPs for the approach/avoidance finger after positive/negative stimuli in Experiment 1 but not in Experiment 2. Analyses on the data aggregated over both experiments suggest that the visual feedback was necessary for stimulus valence to elicit action tendencies. Taken together, the results are in line with the results of behavioral studies with compatibility tasks, suggesting that stimulus valence directly elicits specific action tendencies already at 400 ms but they indicate that clear visual feedback is necessary for this effect to occur.

Handle-Hand Compatibility Effects for the Right and Left Hand Using Reach-to-Touch Movements.

In stimulus-response compatibility tasks, performance is better when the handle of an object is oriented on the same side of the response than when the handle is oriented on the opposite side. Two major alternative accounts, the motor affordance and spatial accounts, have been proposed to explain this handle-hand compatibility effect. In two experiments, we tested between these two accounts by administering a go/no-go task to right-handed participants. Handled objects presented on a touchscreen were used as stimuli. Half of the participants had to reach-to-touch the stimuli by using their dominant hand, the other half by using their nondominant hand. Liftoff times (LTs), movement times (MTs) and spatial coordinates of the movement endpoints were recorded. Results from the LTs and MTs analyses showed no evidence of handle-hand compatibility effects. In contrast, the analyses of the spatial coordinates revealed that participants' touches were shifted more laterally towards the handle when the handles were oriented on the same side of the responding hand (Experiments 1 and 2). Furthermore, the right-hand touches landed higher (towards the handle) than the left-hand touches, especially when the vertical object dimension was particularly salient (Experiment 1). Overall, these results are in line with the activation of hand motor programs to reach and grasp the object as predicted by the motor account, at least for the right/dominant hand.