Prototypical actions with objects are more easily imagined than atypical actions
Tool use is an important facet of everyday life, though sometimes it is necessary to use tools in ways that do not fit within their typical functions. Here we asked participants to imagine characters using objects based on instructions that fit the prototypical actions for the object or were atypica...
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| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis
2018
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49063/ |
| _version_ | 1848797913250004992 |
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| author | Madan, Christopher R. Ng, Adrian Singhal, Anthony |
| author_facet | Madan, Christopher R. Ng, Adrian Singhal, Anthony |
| author_sort | Madan, Christopher R. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Tool use is an important facet of everyday life, though sometimes it is necessary to use tools in ways that do not fit within their typical functions. Here we asked participants to imagine characters using objects based on instructions that fit the prototypical actions for the object or were atypical in a novel object-action imagery task. Atypical action instructions either described sensible, substitute uses of the object, or actions that were bizarre but possible. Participants were better able to imagine the prototypical than atypical actions, but no effect of bizarreness was found. We additionally assessed inter-individual differences in movement imagery ability using two objective tests. Performance in the object-action imagery task correlated with the movement imagery tests, providing a link between motor simulations and mental imagery ability. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:11:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-49063 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:11:26Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-490632020-05-04T19:28:35Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49063/ Prototypical actions with objects are more easily imagined than atypical actions Madan, Christopher R. Ng, Adrian Singhal, Anthony Tool use is an important facet of everyday life, though sometimes it is necessary to use tools in ways that do not fit within their typical functions. Here we asked participants to imagine characters using objects based on instructions that fit the prototypical actions for the object or were atypical in a novel object-action imagery task. Atypical action instructions either described sensible, substitute uses of the object, or actions that were bizarre but possible. Participants were better able to imagine the prototypical than atypical actions, but no effect of bizarreness was found. We additionally assessed inter-individual differences in movement imagery ability using two objective tests. Performance in the object-action imagery task correlated with the movement imagery tests, providing a link between motor simulations and mental imagery ability. Taylor & Francis 2018-01-29 Article PeerReviewed Madan, Christopher R., Ng, Adrian and Singhal, Anthony (2018) Prototypical actions with objects are more easily imagined than atypical actions. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 30 (3). pp. 314-320. ISSN 2044-592X Mental imagery; Motor imagery; Tool use; Motor simulations; Praxic knowledge https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20445911.2018.1429448 doi:10.1080/20445911.2018.1429448 doi:10.1080/20445911.2018.1429448 |
| spellingShingle | Mental imagery; Motor imagery; Tool use; Motor simulations; Praxic knowledge Madan, Christopher R. Ng, Adrian Singhal, Anthony Prototypical actions with objects are more easily imagined than atypical actions |
| title | Prototypical actions with objects are more easily imagined than atypical actions |
| title_full | Prototypical actions with objects are more easily imagined than atypical actions |
| title_fullStr | Prototypical actions with objects are more easily imagined than atypical actions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Prototypical actions with objects are more easily imagined than atypical actions |
| title_short | Prototypical actions with objects are more easily imagined than atypical actions |
| title_sort | prototypical actions with objects are more easily imagined than atypical actions |
| topic | Mental imagery; Motor imagery; Tool use; Motor simulations; Praxic knowledge |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49063/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49063/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49063/ |