Motor cognition and
mental simulation
SMITH A.H. (2006). IN: SMITH E. & KOSSLYN S. (EDS.): COGNITIVE
PSYCHOLOGY: MIND AND BRAIN, PRENTICE HALL , 2007, PP. 451481.
CHRISTINA REGOROSA GROUNDED COGNITION WINTERTERM 2016/17 MEI:COGSCI
FACULTY OF INFORMATICS COMENIUS UNIVERSITY
Guiding questions
1. What is the nature of motor cognition?
2. What is a mental simulation of action?
3. Why and how do we reproduce the actions of others?
4. What is the role of motor cognition in perception?
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1. The nature of motor cognition
DEFINITION MOTOR COGNITION
‘Motor cognition is mental processing in which the motor system draws on stored information to
plan and produce our own actions, as well as to anticipate, predict, and interpret the action of
others.’ (p. 452)
‘Motor cognition encompasses the mental processes involved in the planning, preparation and
production of our own actions, as well as the mental processes involved in anticipating,
predicting, and interpreting the action of others.’ (p. 453)
DEFINITION MOVEMENT
‘voluntary displacement of a body part in physical space’ (p. 452)
DEFINITION ACTION
‘a series of movement that must be accomplished in order to reach a goal’ (p. 452)
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Perception-Action-Cycles
DEFINITION:
‚the transformation of perceived patterns into coordinated patterns of movements’ (p. 453)
‘Perception and action are mutually intertwined and interdependent – and motor cognition lies
at the heart of how the two interact.’ (p. 453)
≠ classical sandwich view (IPO) (Hurley 2001)
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Motor areas
www.brainconnection.com
KEY CORTICAL MOTOR AREAS:
M1 (Primary motor cortex)
PM (premotor cortex)
SMA (Supplementary motor area)
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Shared Motor Representations
‘the same kinds of motor representations are formed when we observe someone else act as
when we ourselves perform the same action’ (p. 455)
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2. Mental Simulation and the Motor System
DEFINITION MOTOR IMAGERY
‘mentally simulating an intended action without actually producing it’ (p. 456)
Motor imagery ↔ motor cognition
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Motor Priming and Mental Representation
DEFINITION MOTOR PRIMING
‘is the effect whereby watching a movement or an action facilitates making a similar motor
response oneself.’ (p. 456)
→ provides evidence for shared representaDons
3 studies → provide support for the inference that observing and performing the same
movement share a representational system (p. 457)
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Motor Programs
DEFINITION:
‘the representation of a sequence of movements that is planned in advance of actual
performance’ (p. 457)
Mental Simulation of Action
Study (Decety et al. 1991): imagery and ANS
Concerning self-other-distinction: study (Ruby & Decety 2001)
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3. Imitation
MIMICRY ↔IMITATION
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Cognitive Components of Imitation
Imitation/recognition
Meaningful/meaningless
Means/goal
→ SIMULATION THEORIES
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Simulation Theories of Action Understanding
DEFINITIONS
(in the field of psychology and philosophy):
we gain insight into plans, beliefs and desires of others by simulating those actions ourselves
without performing them.
(in the field of physiology):
simulation theory is based on three basic assumptions of the brain:
a) behavior is simulated by activating motor structures
b) perception can be simulated without external stimuli
c) overt and covert actions can elicit perceptual simulation
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Mirror Neurons and Self-Mapping
DEFINITION:
Perception-to-action-transfer=part of the perception-action-cycle. It means that watching an
action facilitates the later ability to plan and perform that action.
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4. Biological Motion
DEFINITION:
all motion patterns of living beings ≠ motion of inanimate objects
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Motor Cognition in Motion Perception
‘Human movements are the only movements that we produce as well as perceive. Our anatomy
places constraints […] on the actions that we perform, which in turn constrain the way that we
can imagine and perceive action – and the way we can imagine actions plays a crucial role in our
ability to plan our own actions. […] It has been hypothesized our perception of human
movement in others is mediated by tacit knowledge of how our bodies work; such knowledge is
truly unconscious […]. And such knowledge plays a key role in guiding our mental simulations –
in making them behave in ways that mimic reality.’ (p. 477)
↔ phenomenological perspective
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The Derby at Epsom (1821), by Théodore Géricault
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Literature
Hurley, Susan. "Perception and action: Alternative views." Synthese 129.1 (2001): 3-40.
Smith E. & Kosslyn S. (eds.): Cognitive Psychology: Mind and Brain, Prentice Hall , 2007.
THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION.
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