When affordances climb into your mind: Advantages of motor simulation in a memory task performed by novice and expert rock climbers

Does the sight of multiple climbing holds laid along a path activate a motor simulation of climbing that path? One way of testing whether multiple affordances and their displacement influence the formation of a motor simulation is to study acquired motor skills. We used a behavioral task in which ex...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain and cognition Vol. 73; no. 1; pp. 68 - 73
Main Authors: Pezzulo, Giovanni, Barca, Laura, Bocconi, Alessandro Lamberti, Borghi, Anna M.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Inc 01.06.2010
Elsevier
Subjects:
Activity levels. Psychomotricity
Affordance
Applied psychology
Athletes
Biological and medical sciences
Canonical neurons
Decision Making
Embodied cognition
Expertise
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Grounded cognition
Humans
Imagination
Male
Maze Learning
Memory
Memory for actions
Mental Recall
Mirror neurons
Motor chunks
Motor memory
Motor Skills
Mountaineering
Practice (Psychology)
Problem Solving
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychomotor activities
Psychomotor Skills
Recall (Psychology)
Recreational Activities
Set (Psychology)
Simulation
Space Perception
Sports. Leisure
Affordance
Simulation
Grounded cognition
Mirror neurons
Memory for actions
Motor memory
Canonical neurons
Motor chunks
Embodied cognition
Human
Memory
Central nervous system
Expert
Rock climbing
Cognition
Embodiment
Encephalon
Sport
Mirror neuron
Motricity
ISSN:0278-2626, 1090-2147, 1090-2147
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Does the sight of multiple climbing holds laid along a path activate a motor simulation of climbing that path? One way of testing whether multiple affordances and their displacement influence the formation of a motor simulation is to study acquired motor skills. We used a behavioral task in which expert and novice rock climbers were shown three routes: an easy route, a route impossible to climb but perceptually salient, and a difficult route. After a distraction task, they were then given a recall test in which they had to write down the sequence of holds composing each route. We found no difference between experts and novices on the easy and impossible routes, whereas on the difficult route, the performance of experts was better than that of novices. This suggests that seeing a climbing wall activates a motor, embodied simulation, which relies not on perceptual salience, but on motor competence. More importantly, our results show that the capability to form this simulation is modulated by individuals’ motor repertoire and expertise, and that this strongly impacts recall.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0278-2626
1090-2147
1090-2147
DOI:10.1016/j.bandc.2010.03.002