Abstract
In a series of previous experiments, we have shown that the completion of social tasks may involve the representation of the actions of our partners. Motivated by the recent proposal that such action co-representation may only occur when a partner is in peri-personal space, participants in our present study performed a JSE task in three separate conditions: (1) Close: seated .2m apart with stimuli appearing on a 17" screen; (2) Far: seated 1.5m apart with stimuli appearing on a 17" screen; and, (3) Far-Projector: seated 1.5m apart with the stimuli appearing on a 1.5x2.5m white board. Of additional interest to us was the fact that examining the role of peri-personal space necessitated the introduction of separate response spaces. Thus, in a departure from our previous work, participants executed their responses on separate keyboards. The observed JSEs in the Far and Far-Projector conditions were consistent with our previous work. However, we did not observe a JSE in what could be considered the baseline condition (Close condition). We attribute this latter outcome to be related to the introduction of separate work spaces. We contend that perceptual-motor interactions occur at multiple, interactive levels and that the spatial relations between the partners, the stimulus environment, and the response locations are all potential modulators of action co-representation.Acknowledgments: This research was funded by NSERC and an Early Researcher Award from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation.