To assess automatic imitation of human and cyborg hand’s movements, and whether there is a relationship between automatic imitation and prosocial (socio-cognitive) behaviour
The title of your poster should highlight the research question(s)
Humans have a tendency to involuntarily mimic the actions preformed by others (e.g. yawn when someone yawns): this is called AUTOMATIC imitation behaviour.
Imitation is a form of self-other control, mediated by a circuitry of neural regions that include Mirror Neurons (i.e. special class of neurons that activates both when performing and observing someone performing a given action)
AIM 1: To test participants (trait-level) automatic imitation tendencies with a variation of the stimulus-response compatibility paradigm
Imitation is a core mechanism for social interactions. Do humans have equal tendency to imitate actions performed either by other humans or by cyborgs?
AIM 2: tested automatic imitation tendencies for biological (human) vs non-biological (cyborg) actions.
Literature states that the correct functioning of mirroring mechanisms mediating imitation is relevant for the development of socio-cognitive skills, such as empathy and social attitudes.
AIM 3: tested the relationship between magnitude of Automatic Imitation (tested in the S-R compatibility task) and self-reported Prosocialness (a socio-cognitive skill based on the ability to “read” people’s mind)
The experimental task consisted of 3 conditions….
CONGRUENT (I have to perform an action, and the hand displayed on the screen performs the same action. According to literature, if I have a well-functioning MNS – this should facilitate my response: I will be faster in pressing the button)
NEUTRAL (I have to perform an action, and the hand displayed on the screen performs no action. This should not affect my response in any way)
INCONGRUENT (I have to perform an action, and the hand displayed on the screen performs a similar but different action. Literature suggests that, if I have a well-functioning MNS, I should have an instinct to imitate that action. So this will interfere with my task – my brain must inhibit the automatic tendency to imitate the observed action and enforce the execution of the correct action for the task: this will take time and make my responses slower
….For each of the 3 conditions above there are other 2 conditions…
HUMAN HAND (the hand displayed in the screen is a real human hand, i.e. a biological stimulus).
CYBORG HAND (the hand displayed in the screen is a cyborg hand, i.e. a non-biological stimulus)
Finally, we have a correlational design where we test whether the magnitude of the automatic imitation effect correlates with the prosocialness level of the individual.
The Predictor/Outcome Variables are:
AUTOMATIC IMITATION (or CONGRUENCY) EFFECT. This is obtained by calculating the difference between mean RTs in Incongruent trials – mean RTs in Congruent trials, for each individual. It gives the magnitude of the imitation tendency (inhibition-facilitation effect) for each individual– According to literature, this is an indirect measure of the functioning of the individual’s MNS. – (note that a larger positive value indicates a stronger congruency/AI effect, since RTs Congruent should be faster than RTs Incongruent)
PROSOCIALNESS SCORE. This is obtained from the Adult’s Prosocialness scale – scores from each questions of the scale are summed together leading to a final score for each individual. This indicates how much the individual behaves pro-socially on a series of common situation
Research poster
The coursework is a research poster. This consists of one-page visual illustration of a research work,
which includes both graphics and text. The content of the research poster must be based on the
research work you conducted during the seminar of the PSYC231 – Cognition and Cognitive
Neuroscience module. The poster must include title (with author1 and affiliation), introduction (stating
the background and rationale of the research work), method (describing the method used to collect
data), results, discussion/conclusion (discussing the key findings of the study), and list of references
(appropriately reported in APA style).
Guidelines and support about how to make the poster are provided by your tutor throughout the
seminar
LOs of the research poster:
• Understand how a theoretical question can be translated into a testable hypothesis
and the restrictions that research methods place on scientific investigations.
• Present research results succinctly and accurately in scientific poster format.
Title of the Poster:
Assessing automatic imitation for human and cyborg hands, and the relationship between
imitation and prosocial behaviour
• The topic is about Imitation and the development of socio-cognitive skills;
and links to Mirror Neurons (MNs) and the Broken Mirror Neurons Theory (BMNT).
• This topic is relevant for Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience, as well as Clinical
Psychology, and includes some “myth-busting”.
2.3 General guidance
The assessment consists of the preparation of a research poster, which you will have to submit
online through Turnitin. There is no oral presentation of the poster, so marks will be based only on
the quality of the poster itself.
The poster must be uploaded on Turnitin (CANVAS) to avoid penalties, even if your tutor asks you to
send it to him/her through other means (e.g., by email).
The assessment is compulsory. You do not need to pass it in order to pass the PSYC231 Cognition
and Cognitive Neuroscience module. However, if you fail the module, you will be required to retake
progress. The
The word limit for the poster is max 500 words. The title and the reference list section are not
included in the word count. It is your responsibility to ensure that you follow the word limit. There is
penalty for exceeding the word limit. A 5% total will be deducted automatically from your mark
irrespective of the number of words exceeding the word limit.
Below you can see the marking criteria for the poster.
Assessment
criteria
Title Is the title of the poster the right size to be readable, informative, and concise?
The title is the right size (around 72pt), concise, and informative.
Introduction: Does the introduction identify the key problem, issue or topic, and provides
rationale and research question(s)/hypotheses of the research, in a clear and concise way?
