Weight discrimination ability during an action observation task is
muscle contraction dependent
- Andrea Albergoni,
- Christos Paizis,
- Charalambos Papaxanthis,
- Monica Biggio,
- Marco Bove,
- Ambra Bisio
Abstract
Concentric and eccentric contractions show different patterns of neural
activity at both peripheral and cortical levels, which are thought to
influence the perception of action properties such as the weight of
objects moved by others. The aim of this study was to investigate how
the type of muscle contraction influences weight estimation during
action observation. Forty-eight volunteers completed the Main experiment
and the Control experiment. In the Main experiment, they performed a
weight discrimination video task in which they watched videos of an
actor moving two objects, a comparison and a reference box, executing
concentric or eccentric contractions and they had to indicate which box
was the heaviest. Sensitivity analysis and psychometric functions were
used to analyze the data. In the Control experiment, observers judged
the actor's effort in moving the boxes. The results of the Main
experiment showed that the weight discrimination sensitivity was higher
in the Eccentric condition for the Light boxes. Conversely, for the
heaviest boxes, discrimination sensitivity was higher in the Concentric
than in the Eccentric condition. These results were confirmed by the
psychometric function analysis. The Control experiment showed that for
Light stimuli, the perceived difference in effort between the comparison
and reference stimuli was greater in the Eccentric than in the
Concentric condition. These results showed that the ability to evaluate
the weight of the object involved in the observed action was influenced
by the type of contraction and the amount of weight. The effort
attributed to the actor influenced the observer's perception.Submitted to European Journal of Neuroscience Submission Checks Completed
Assigned to Editor
Reviewer(s) Assigned
29 Jun 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
29 Jun 2024Reviewer(s) Assigned
31 Jul 2024Editorial Decision: Revise Major
11 Oct 20241st Revision Received
14 Oct 2024Submission Checks Completed
14 Oct 2024Assigned to Editor
14 Oct 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
14 Oct 2024Reviewer(s) Assigned
26 Oct 2024Editorial Decision: Accept