Time will show: real time predictions during interpersonal action perception

PLoS One. 2013;8(1):e54949. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054949. Epub 2013 Jan 22.

Abstract

Predictive processes are crucial not only for interpreting the actions of individual agents, but also to predict how, in the context of a social interaction between two agents, the actions of one agent relate to the actions of a second agent. In the present study we investigated whether, in the context of a communicative interaction between two agents, observers can use the actions of one agent to predict when the action of a second agent will take place. Participants observed point-light displays of two agents (A and B) performing separate actions. In the communicative condition, the action performed by agent B responded to a communicative gesture performed by agent A. In the individual condition, agent A's communicative action was substituted with a non-communicative action. For each condition, we manipulated the temporal coupling of the actions of the two agents, by varying the onset of agent A's action. Using a simultaneous masking detection task, we demonstrated that the timing manipulation had a critical effect on the communicative condition, with the visual discrimination of agent B increasing linearly while approaching the original interaction timing. No effect of the timing manipulation was found for the individual condition. Our finding complements and extends previous evidence for interpersonal predictive coding, suggesting that the communicative gestures of one agent can serve not only to predict what the second agent will do, but also when his/her action will take place.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Communication
  • Discrimination, Psychological*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Interpersonal Relations*
  • Male
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology
  • Visual Perception / physiology
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a grant from the Regione Piemonte, bando Scienze Umane e Sociali 2008, L.R. n. 4/2006 to C.B. V.M. was supported by the research fellowship “L'Oreal Italia per le Donne e la Scienza 2012” for the project “La predizione delle intenzioni nell'autismo: studi comportamentali e fMRI”. B.S. was supported by a postdoctoral research fellowship of the Research Fund K.U. Leuven (PDMK/11/057). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.