Event:

How we perceive others in action is biased by our prior experience with an observed action. For example, whether watching others tango dancing, rock climbing, or cooking a gourmet meal, the degree to which the observer has prior visual or physical experience with dancing, climbing, or cooking can profoundly impact how he or she perceives these actions, as measured by brain and behavioural responses. Research performed in my laboratory directly addresses the link between prior experience or expertise with actions and how these actions are subsequently perceived through coordinated use of behavioural training paradigms, pre- and post-training functional neuroimaging measures, and behavioural assessments of action ability. This presentation highlights some of this research demonstrating how sensorimotor experience (or lack thereof) with complex actions, including dance and knot-tying, shapes subsequent action perception. The first study to be discussed describes a longitudinal approach to tracking expert dancers’ brain activity and motor abilities as they learned a complex new dance work. Next I discuss a study comparing the impact of motor compared to visual (or observational) experience on novice dancers learning simple dance sequences in a video game environment. Finally, I explore the impact of a live model on observational learning when comparing how first and second-hand experience with knot-tying impacts brain and behaviour. The impact of experiential shaping of action resonance processes, as well as potential applications for harnessing action-perception links are considered as well.