Article

We asked whether people's actions are understood by projecting them onto one's
own action programs, according to the direct matching hypothesis, and whether
this mode of control functions in infants. Adults' and infants' gaze and hand
movements were measured in two live situations. The task was either to move an
object between two places in the visual field, or to observe the corresponding
action performed by another person. When performing the action, infants and
adults behaved strikingly similar. Hand and gaze movements were simultaneously
initiated and gaze arrived at the goal ahead of the hand. When observing the
actions, the initiation of the gaze shift was delayed relative to the observed
hand movement in both infants and adults, but it still arrived at the goal ahead
of the hand. For both the performance and observation of actions the
proactiveness of gaze shifts was associated with saccades ahead of the velocity
peak of the hand. The close similarity between adults' and infants' actions when
performing the movements and the great advantage of the adults when observing
them support the conclusion that one's own motor actions develop ahead of the
ability to predict other people's actions.
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Langue : ANGLAIS