@article{SchoenebeckElsner2019,
  author    = {Sch{\"o}nebeck, Maria and Elsner, Birgit},
  title     = {ERPs reveal perceptual and conceptual processing in 14-month-olds' observation of complete and incomplete action end-states},
  series = {Neuropsychologia : an international journal in behavioural and cognitive neuroscience},
  volume    = {126},
  journal   = {Neuropsychologia : an international journal in behavioural and cognitive neuroscience},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Oxford},
  issn      = {0028-3932},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.10.026},
  pages     = {102 -- 112},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Infants in the second year of life not only detect the visible goals or end-states of other people's action, but they also seem to be able to infer others' underlying intentions. The present study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate the biological basis of infants' processing of others' goal-directed actions, with special regard to the involvement of bottom-up perceptual and top-down conceptual processes. In an adaptation of the behavioral re-enactment procedure, 14-month-olds were first familiarized with either full demonstrations (FD), failed attempts (FA), or arbitrary (AA) object-directed actions. Next, ERPs were measured while all infants saw the same two pictures of the end-states of the full demonstration (complete end-state) and the failed attempt (incomplete end-state). In the time-windows related to perceptual processing (100-200 ms after stimulus onset) and to conceptual processing (300-700 ms), ERP negativity over frontal and central regions was higher for the complete than for the incomplete end-state in the FD and FA conditions. When comparing the FA and AA conditions, this pattern of results occurred only for the conceptual time domain. Moreover, beginning slow-wave activity (700-1000 ms) differed for the end-state pictures in the three conditions, suggesting differential encoding demands. Together, the electrophysiological data indicate that infants in the second year of life use bottom-up perceptual as well as top-down conceptual processing to give meaning to others' goal-directed actions.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{AdamReitenbachPapenmeieretal.2016,
  author    = {Adam, Maurits and Reitenbach, Ivanina and Papenmeier, Frank and Gredeb{\"a}ck, Gustaf and Elsner, Claudia and Elsner, Birgit},
  title     = {actions, but not for mechanical claws},
  series = {Meteoritics \& planetary science : journal of the Meteoritical Society},
  volume    = {44},
  journal   = {Meteoritics \& planetary science : journal of the Meteoritical Society},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {New York},
  issn      = {0163-6383},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.infbeh.2016.05.001},
  pages     = {29 -- 37},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {Previous research indicates that infants' prediction of the goals of observed actions is influenced by own experience with the type of agent performing the action (i.e., human hand vs. non-human agent) as well as by action-relevant features of goal objects (e.g., object size). The present study investigated the combined effects of these factors on 12-month-olds' action prediction. Infants' (N = 49) goal-directed gaze shifts were recorded as they observed 14 trials in which either a human hand or a mechanical claw reached for a small goal area (low-saliency goal) or a large goal area (high-saliency goal). Only infants who had observed the human hand reaching for a high-saliency goal fixated the goal object ahead of time, and they rapidly learned to predict the action goal across trials. By contrast, infants in all other conditions did not track the observed action in a predictive manner, and their gaze shifts to the action goal did not change systematically across trials. Thus, high-saliency goals seem to boost infants' predictive gaze shifts during the observation of human manual actions, but not of actions performed by a mechanical device. This supports the assumption that infants' action predictions are based on interactive effects of action-relevant object features (e.g., size) and own action experience.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{AdamReitenbachElsner2017,
  author    = {Adam, Maurits and Reitenbach, Ivanina and Elsner, Birgit},
  title     = {Agency cues and 11-month-olds' and adults' anticipation of action goals},
  series = {Cognitive Development},
  volume    = {43},
  journal   = {Cognitive Development},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {New York},
  issn      = {0885-2014},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.cogdev.2017.02.008},
  pages     = {37 -- 48},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {For the processing of goal-directed actions, some accounts emphasize the importance of experience with the action or the agent. Other accounts stress the importance of agency cues. We investigated the impact of agency cues on 11-month-olds' and adults' goal anticipation for a grasping-action performed by a mechanical claw. With an eyetracker, we measured anticipations in two conditions, where the claw was displayed either with or without agency cues. In two experiments, 11-month-olds were predictive when agency cues were present, but reactive when no agency cues were presented. Adults were predictive in both conditions. Furthermore, 11-month-olds rapidly learned to predict the goal in the agency condition, but not in the mechanical condition. Adults' predictions did not change across trials in the agency condition, but decelerated in the mechanical condition. Thus, agency cues and own action experience are important for infants' and adults' online processing of goal-directed actions by non-human agents.},
  language  = {en}
}