TY  - JOUR
A1  - Sparenberg, Peggy
A1  - Topolinski, Sascha
A1  - Springer, Anne
A1  - Prinz, Wolfgang
T1  - Minimal mimicry: Mere effector matching induces preference
JF  - Brain and cognition : a journal of experimental and clinical research
N2  - Both mimicking and being mimicked induces preference for a target. The present experiments investigate the minimal sufficient conditions for this mimicry-preference link to occur. We argue that mere effector matching between one's own and the other person's movement is sufficient to induce preference, independent of which movement is actually performed. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants moved either their arms or legs, and watched avatars that moved either their arms or legs, respectively, without any instructions to mimic. The executed movements themselves and their pace were completely different between participants (fast circular movements) and targets (slow linear movements). Participants preferred avatars that moved the same body part as they did over avatars that moved a different body part. In Experiment 3, using human targets and differently paced movements, movement similarity was manipulated in addition to effector overlap (moving forward-backward or sideways with arms or legs, respectively). Only effector matching, but not movement matching, influenced preference ratings. These findings suggest that mere effector overlap is sufficient to trigger preference by mimicry. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
KW  - Mimicry
KW  - Preference
KW  - Action-perception link
KW  - Common coding
Y1  - 2012
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2012.08.004
SN  - 0278-2626
VL  - 80
IS  - 3
SP  - 291
EP  - 300
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - San Diego
ER  -