Conscious control over the content of unconscious cognition

Visual stimuli (primes) presented too briefly to be consciously identified can nevertheless affect responses to subsequent stimuli - an instance of unconscious cognition. There is a lively debate as to whether such priming effects originate from unconscious semantic processing of the primes or from reactivation of learned motor responses that conscious stimuli afford during preceding practice. In four experiments we demonstrate that unconscious stimuli owe their impact neither to automatic semantic categorization nor to memory traces of preceding stimulus-response episodes, but to their match with pre-specified cognitive action-trigger conditions. The intentional creation of such triggers allows actors to control the way unconscious stimuli bias their behaviour.     

Sensory-based mechanism for delayed motor intention

Prospective motor learning (PML) can be defined as learning an action to be performed in the future. The privileged retrieval mechanism behind this delayed motor performance remains unknown. From a motor control and learning perspective, we may conceive of two forms of retrieval: a stimulus- and an intention-based control. Retrieval from intention-based control is based on the anticipation of intended sensory effects related to an action in order to select and control the appropriate motor procedure (i.e., the ideomotor mechanism). In contrast, in a stimulus-based control a connection between stimuli-features and their related action-features is stored in the memory and serves as the retrieval mechanism. In this view, action retrieval from external stimuli is based on the detection of events in the environment to perform the intended behaviour (i.e., the sensorimotor mechanism). In this study, we report an advantage in the action retrieval for participants who use an intention-based mode of control in comparison to a stimulus-based control. Furthermore, a control task reveals that the intention-based advantage is specific to PML. Our findings show that PML is benefited by mental anticipation of a sensory effect that is efficiently processed through an ideomotor mechanism to fulfil delayed motor intentions.     

Space- and object-based attention depend on motor intention

The authors investigated the impact of different motor demands on space- and object-based attention allocation. Responses to targets were either lifting a finger, or pointing to the target, or grasping a clay object placed on the target location. Reaction times and movement times were recorded to assess covert and overt attention, respectively. Both reaction times and movement times showed more space-based attention for pointing than for finger lifting and more object-based attention for grasping than for pointing. That result supports the view that visual selectivity is tuned to specific motor intentions (H. Bekkering & F. W. Neggers, 2002) and illustrates the tight coupling of perception and action.     

Deficits of motor intention following parietal lesions

Patients with lesions to the right parietal lobe were tested on their ability to reach to targets, or to respond verbally to targets. The targets occurred at the same two spatial locations--to the left and right of the patient--with the task being cued by the color of the target. Patients were able to perform both tasks separately rapidly and without error. However, when the two tasks were interleaved, they had difficulty making a response in the left (contralesional) field when this was different to a response that they had just made. These results suggest that lesions to the parietal cortex may cause a deficit in the coding for motor intention, as well as attention in the contralesional field.     

A question of intention in motor imagery

We examined the question—is the intention of completing a simulated motor action the same as the intention used in processing overt actions? Participants used motor imagery to estimate distance reachability in two conditions: Imagery-Only (IO) and Imagery-Execution (IE). With IO (red target) only a verbal estimate using imagery was given. With IE (green target) participants knew that they would actually reach after giving a verbal estimate and be judged on accuracy. After measuring actual maximum reach, used for the comparison, imagery targets were randomly presented across peripersonal- (within reach) and extrapersonal (beyond reach) space. Results indicated no difference in overall accuracy by condition, however, there was a significant distinction by space; participants were more accurate in peripersonal space. Although more research is needed, these findings support an increasing body of evidence suggesting that the neurocognitive processes (in this case, intention) driving motor imagery and overt actions are similar.     

The intrinsic link between motor behavior and temporal cognition

The debate about the cognitive mechanisms behind human temporal processing has raged for decades without a clear resolution. The theory presented here describes a different perspective to the traditional accounts on the issue, namely, that motor behaviors or sequences of motor behaviors provide a means of reproducing time intervals. Evidence behind this perspective includes tapping strategies (exemplified by musicians), counting strategies, and neuropsychological results showing activation of motor areas during temporal cognitive tasks. I propose that motor behaviors aid human timing by offering a set of processes that consistently take a set amount of time to accomplish. Motor behaviors also allow segmentation of larger intervals into smaller intervals that are easier to estimate. I conclude with a discussion of implications of this perspective on temporal cognition.     

Conscious awareness of motor fluidity improves performance and decreases cognitive effort in sequence learning

Motor skill learning is improved when participants are instructed to judge after each trial whether their performed movements have reached maximal fluidity. Consequently, the conscious awareness of this maximal fluidity can be classified as a genuine learning factor for motor sequences. However, it is unknown whether this effect of conscious awareness on motor learning could be mediated by the increased cognitive effort that may accompany such judgment making. The main aim of this study was to test this hypothesis in comparing two groups with, and without, the conscious awareness of the maximal fluidity. To assess the possible involvement of cognitive effort, we have recorded the pupillary dilation to the task, which is well-known to increase in proportion to cognitive effort. Results confirmed that conscious awareness indeed improved motor sequence learning of the trained sequence specifically. Pupil dilation was smaller during trained than during novel sequence performance, indicating that sequence learning decreased the cognitive cost of sequence execution. However, we found that in the group that had to judge on their maximal fluidity, pupil dilation during sequence production was smaller than in the control group, indicating that the motor improvement induced by the fluidity judgment does not involve additional cognitive effort. We discuss these results in the context of motor learning and cognitive effort theories.     

The motor theory of social cognition: a critique

Recent advances in the cognitive neuroscience of action have considerably enlarged our understanding of human motor cognition. In particular, the activity of the mirror system, first discovered in the brain of non-human primates, provides an observer with the understanding of a perceived action by means of the motor simulation of the agent's observed movements. This discovery has raised the prospects of a motor theory of social cognition. In humans, social cognition includes the ability to mindread, and many motor theorists of social cognition try to bridge the gap between motor cognition and mindreading by endorsing a simulation account of mindreading. Here, we question the motor theory of social cognition and give reasons for our skepticism.     

Conscious and effortful or effortless and automatic: a practice/performance paradox in motor learning

High cognitive effort has been frequently related to better indices of motor learning through the study of many different paradigms. However, automaticity presumably invokes minimal cognitive processing but has often been related to high-level motor performance, which suggests a paradox. The objective of this study was to approach this paradox by examining the viability of the use of different cognitive strategies during practice and performance which promote the benefits of high cognitive effort and automaticity. Members of the university community (14 men and 15 women) divided into 3 groups practiced a discrete precision task. All participants completed four sessions totaling 320 trials and were tested on retention and transfer seven days later. Findings suggest that it is indeed possible to benefit from both effortful and minimal cognitive processing strategies and that they should be used complementarily.     

What is in your hand influences your purchase intention: Effect of motor fluency on motor simulation

With the development of the advertisement industry, consumers are surrounded by increasing numbers of different types of visual stimuli (e.g., images on billboards, websites, and newspapers or videos on TV and social media). The present research aims to explore the effect of the connection between visual stimuli and objects in consumers’ hands on purchase intention based on motor simulation theory and motor fluency. The results of two studies demonstrate that when right-handed consumers review an image of food with tableware on the right (vs. left) side, they will have higher purchase intention for the food, while the effect reverses when their right hand is under high motor resource load. In addition, when right-handed consumers review an image of food with tableware on the right side and have nothing (vs. an object) in their right hand, they will have higher purchase intention for the food. However, if the image does not include tableware, placing tableware (vs. nothing or other objects) in the right hand of the consumers will induce higher purchase intention for the food. Our findings not only contribute to the literature on motor simulation, motor fluency, and motor resources but also provide valid insights for managerial applications.

     

Embodied cognition and health persuasion: Facilitating intention-behavior consistency via motor manipulations

The present research examines health persuasion from an embodied cognition perspective by proposing that engaging the motor system during health persuasion will lead individuals to engage in healthier behavior and have greater consistency between their intentions and behavior. In two studies, participants watched a health video while either imaging themselves performing the behavior or imaging themselves performing the behavior while also engaging their motor systems with minimal, relevant behaviors. In Study 1, after watching a flossing video, females (but not males) flossed more times in the following week after touching a floss and in Study 2, all participants (males and females) exercised more in the week after watching an exercise video while walking in place. In both experiments, participants who engaged the motor system had stronger intention-behavior consistency than those who merely imagined themselves performing the health behavior. Implications of the findings are discussed for theories of embodied cognition, intention-behavior consistency, and health persuasion.     

Pliers,not fingers: Tool-action effect in a motor intention paradigm

Tool-use representations have been suggested to be supported by the representation of hand actions and/or by the representation of tool actions. A major issue is to know which one of these two representations is preferentially activated when people intend to use a tool. To address this issue, we developed a paradigm in which, in 20% of trials, participants had to press a button and actually use pliers to move an object in response to a predefined target symbol. Importantly, two masks hiding the symbols performed “opening” or “closing” actions before symbols appeared. In Experiment 1, participants used normal pliers: Hand’s opening actions induced pliers’ opening actions and vice versa for hands’ closing actions. Results indicated a compatibility effect between masks’ actions and pliers’ actions. Participants were faster to press the button in response to the target symbol when opening and closing actions of the masks were congruent with the corresponding actions of the hand. In Experiment 2 participants used inverse pliers: Hand’s opening actions involved pliers’ closing actions and vice versa. In this situation, results showed that the congruency of masks’ actions occurred with pliers’ actions and not hand’s actions. Altogether, these findings demonstrate that intention of use is preferentially based on the representation of tool actions, and have important implications for the domain of neuropsychology of tool use and the theories of goal-directed behavior.     

Protracted development of motor cortex constrains rich interpretations of infant cognition

Cognition in preverbal human infants must be inferred from overt motor behaviors such as gaze shifts, head turns, or reaching for objects. However, infant mammals – including human infants – show protracted postnatal development of cortical motor outflow. Cortical control of eye, face, head, and limb movements is absent at birth and slowly emerges over the first postnatal year and beyond. Accordingly, the neonatal cortex in humans cannot generate the motor behaviors routinely used to support inferences about infants’ cognitive abilities, and thus claims of developmental continuity between infant and adult cognition are suspect. Recognition of the protracted development of motor cortex should temper rich interpretations of infant cognition and motivate more serious consideration of the role of subcortical mechanisms in early cognitive development.     

Spatial cognition and motor development: a study of children with spina bifida

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between motor development and spatial cognition. The sample was 20 children with Spina bifida (M age: 11.4 yr., SD = 1.7) and 20 healthy children as controls (M age: 11.8, SD = 1.8 yr.). An experimental assessment of motor development in spatial cognition in a simulated virtual maze by school-age children is lacking. In this study children with Spina bifida, who were impaired in walking since birth, completed four visuospatial tasks in a small-scale space (Mental Rotation, Water-Level Task, Embedded Figures Test, Visual Short-term Memory Test), and a spatial behaviour and knowledge task in a virtual maze. These children showed poorer performance than children in the control group on most measures. The results are discussed with respect to theoretical implications and further research.     

Gender Conscious

Integration has had a bad press in recent years. Feminists and spokesmen for racial and ethnic minorities express concern that the integrationist agenda requires women and members of minorities to divest themselves of features of their "identities" in order to approximate to a restrictive white male ideal which, they hold, should not be a requirement for fair treatment and social benefits. I argue that this concern is unwarranted and that "Integration" with respect to gender, as I shall understand it, is overall more conducive to the happiness of both men and women than what I shall call "Diversity".