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PubMed2006

A female advantage in the serial production of non-representational learned gestures.

Clinical research has demonstrated a sex difference in the neuroanatomical organization of the limb praxis system. To test for a corresponding sex difference in the functioning of this system, we compared healthy men and women on a gesture production task modeled after those used in apraxia research. In two separate studies, participants were taught to perform nine non-representational gestures in response to computer-generated color cues. After extensive practice with the gestures, the color cues were placed on a timer and presented in randomized sequences at progressively faster speeds. A detailed videotape analysis revealed that women in both studies committed significantly fewer 'praxic' errors than men (i.e., errors that resembled those seen in limb apraxia). This was true during both the untimed practice trials and the speeded trials of the task, despite equivalent numbers of errors between the sexes in the 'non-praxic' (i.e., executory) error categories. Women in both studies also performed the task at significantly faster speeds than men. This finding was not accounted for by a female advantage in extraneous elements of the task, i.e., speed of color processing, associative retrieval, or motor execution. Together, the two studies provide convergent support for a female advantage in the efficiency of forelimb gesture production. They are consistent with emerging evidence of a sex difference in the anatomical organization of the praxis system.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Exploring the functional and anatomical bases of mirror-image and anatomical imitation: the role of the frontal lobes.

Humans are the most imitative species on earth, but how imitation is accomplished and which areas of the brain are directly involved in different kinds of imitation is still under debate. One view is that imitation entails representing observed behaviours as a set of hierarchically organised goals, which subsequently drive the construction of an action pattern [Bekkering, H., Wohlschläger, A., & Gattis, M. (2000). Imitation of gestures in children is goal-directed. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 53, 153-164; Wohlschläger, A., Gattis, M., & Bekkering, H. (2003). Action generation and action perception in imitation: An instance of the ideomotor principle. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 358, 501-515]. On this view, when working memory resources are limited, only the goals at the top-end of the hierarchy will be accurately reproduced. In the present study, neurologically intact participants and patients with frontal and non-frontal lesions were asked to make imitative responses that were either mirror-image (e.g., the observer's right side corresponding to the model's left side) or anatomically (e.g., the observer's right side corresponding to the model's right side) matching. Experiment 1 confirmed that individuals with brain damage, though globally impaired compared with neurologically intact controls, nevertheless followed the same goal hierarchy. However, there was a selective deficit in performing anatomical imitation for the frontal group. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the problem for frontal patients stemmed from an impaired ability to remember and reproduce incompatible stimulus-response mappings, which is fundamental for the selection of the appropriate frame of reference during anatomical imitation.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Imitation of facial expressions in schizophrenia.

Diminished facial expressivity is a common feature of schizophrenia that interferes with effective interpersonal communication. This study was designed to determine if real-time visual feedback improved the ability of patients with schizophrenia to imitate and produce modeled facial expressions. Twenty patients with schizophrenia and 10 controls viewed static images of facial expressions and were asked to imitate them. Half of the images were imitated with the use of a mirror and half were imitated without the use of a mirror. In addition, we examined whether practice in imitating and producing expressions improved the ability of participants to generate facial expressions on their own, without the aid of a model or mirror. Participants' facial expressions were photographed with a digital camera and each was rated for accuracy in producing characteristic facial expressions. Patients with schizophrenia were less accurate in imitating and producing facial expressions than controls, and real-time visual feedback did not improve accuracy in either group. Preliminary findings suggest that exposure to model expressions and practice in generating these expressions can improve the accuracy of certain posed expressions in schizophrenia.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Visual-auditory integration during speech imitation in autism.

Children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) may have poor audio-visual integration, possibly reflecting dysfunctional 'mirror neuron' systems which have been hypothesised to be at the core of the condition. In the present study, a computer program, utilizing speech synthesizer software and a 'virtual' head (Baldi), delivered speech stimuli for identification in auditory, visual or bimodal conditions. Children with ASD were poorer than controls at recognizing stimuli in the unimodal conditions, but once performance on this measure was controlled for, no group difference was found in the bimodal condition. A group of participants with ASD were also trained to develop their speech-reading ability. Training improved visual accuracy and this also improved the children's ability to utilize visual information in their processing of speech. Overall results were compared to predictions from mathematical models based on integration and non-integration, and were most consistent with the integration model. We conclude that, whilst they are less accurate in recognizing stimuli in the unimodal condition, children with ASD show normal integration of visual and auditory speech stimuli. Given that training in recognition of visual speech was effective, children with ASD may benefit from multi-modal approaches in imitative therapy and language training.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Rational versus anti-rational interpretations of science: an ape-language case-study.

Robert Nola (2003) has argued that anti-rationalist interpretations of science fail to adequately explain the process of science, since objective reasons can be causal factors in belief formation. While I agree with Nola that objective reasons can be a cause of belief, in this paper I present a version of the strong programme in the sociology of knowledge, the Interests Thesis, and argue that the Interests Thesis provides a plausible explanation of an episode in the history of ape-language research. Specifically, I examine Terrace, Petitto, Sandess, & Bever (1979, 1980) illegitimate comparison of the signing of their chimpanzee, Nim, with data from human early childhood language development, and argue that Terrace et al.'s interests played a causal role in determining their sceptical beliefs concerning ape linguistic abilities. However, I go on to argue that Terrace et al.'s interests are not the only causal factors in determining their beliefs: objective reasons, associated with the institution of new methodologies, were also causally determinative of Terrace et al.'s sceptical beliefs. Consequently, I argue that belief formation in science is a multi-factorial affair wherein both interests and objective reasons have causal roles. I finish the paper with two conjectures concerning the proper locus of scientific rationality.

Animal Communication↗

PubMed2004

The cognitive foundations of cultural stability and diversity.

The existence and diversity of human cultures are made possible by our species-specific cognitive capacities. But how? Do cultures emerge and diverge as a result of the deployment, over generations and in different populations, of general abilities to learn, imitate and communicate? What role if any do domain-specific evolved cognitive abilities play in the emergence and evolution of cultures? These questions have been approached from different vantage points in different disciplines. Here we present a view that is currently developing out of the converging work of developmental psychologists, evolutionary psychologists and cognitive anthropologists.

Cognition↗

PubMed2004

An action perspective on motor development.

Motor development has all too often been considered as a set of milestones with little significance for the psychology of the child. Nothing could be more wrong. From an action perspective, motor development is at the heart of development and reflects all its different aspects, including perception, planning and motivation. Recent converging evidence demonstrates that, from birth onwards, children are agents who act on the world. Even in the newborn child, their movements are never just reflexes. On the contrary, they are purposeful goal-directed actions that foresee events in the world. Thus, motor development is not just a question of gaining control over muscles; equally important are questions such as why a particular movement is made, how the movements are planned, and how they anticipate what is going to happen next.

Brain↗

PubMed2005

Imitation: is cognitive neuroscience solving the correspondence problem?

Imitation poses a unique problem: how does the imitator know what pattern of motor activation will make their action look like that of the model? Specialist theories suggest that this correspondence problem has a unique solution; there are functional and neurological mechanisms dedicated to controlling imitation. Generalist theories propose that the problem is solved by general mechanisms of associative learning and action control. Recent research in cognitive neuroscience, stimulated by the discovery of mirror neurons, supports generalist solutions. Imitation is based on the automatic activation of motor representations by movement observation. These externally triggered motor representations are then used to reproduce the observed behaviour. This imitative capacity depends on learned perceptual-motor links. Finally, mechanisms distinguishing self from other are implicated in the inhibition of imitative behaviour.

Animals↗

PubMed2006