Seeing meaning in action: A bidirectional link between visual perspective and action identification level.

Abstract

Actions do not have inherent meaning but rather can be interpreted in many ways. The interpretation a person adopts has important effects on a range of higher order cognitive processes. One dimension on which interpretations can vary is the extent to which actions are identified abstractly--in relation to broader goals, personal characteristics, or consequences--versus concretely, in terms of component processes. The present research investigated how visual perspective (own 1st-person vs. observer's 3rd-person) in action imagery is related to action identification level. A series of experiments measured and manipulated visual perspective in mental and photographic images to test the connection with action identification level. Results revealed a bidirectional causal relationship linking 3rd-person images and abstract action identifications. These findings highlight the functional role of visual imagery and have implications for understanding how perspective is involved in action perception at the social, cognitive, and neural levels.

Modulation of motor cortex activity when observing rewarding and punishing actions

“…Considering the lack of modulation by reward-related conditions found in the beta frequency band, our data seems to show that this effect is specific to mu rhythm in the alpha band. We also hypothesized that a difference in perspective-taking (egocentric vs. allocentric) would have an influence on the expression of the mu suppression; however our results did not confirm this prediction, in contrast to some previous studies (Libby et al, 2009). Interestingly, our analysis of the temporal dynamic of the mu rhythm revealed a second suppression component arising as a result of the rewardrelated condition effect.…”

“…Mu rhythm suppression has been found to correlate with measures of empathy, and particularly on the dimensions of perspectivetaking and personal distress (Woodruff, Martin, & Bilyk, 2011a;Woodruff, Daut, Brower, & Bragg, 2011). Other studies have shown that the perspective from which the action is viewed, can influence motor resonance (Libby, Shaeffer, & Eibach, 2009), with actions seen from a 1st-person perspective leading to greater action identification. This is thought to be due to the reason that actions seen from an egocentric 1st-person, as opposed to an allocentric 3rd-person perspective, may be easier to translate onto the motor cortex of the observer (Jeannerod & Anquetil, 2008).…”

Construal Level Theory and Moral Judgments: How Thinking Abstractly Modifies Morality

“…In a subsequent study, build on research showing that high-level construals are more prevalent when taking a third-person perspective than a first-person perspective (e.g., Libby, Shaeffer, & Eibach, 2009). They found support for their hypothesis that moral principles weigh more heavily when taking a third-person perspective compared to a first-person perspective.…”

Visualizing actions from a third‐person perspective: effects on health behavior and the moderating role of behavior difficulty

“…In contrast, use of the first-person perspective involves a bottom-up style of meaning making in which the concrete features of the event dominate the picture and define understanding. Consistent with 5 VISUALIZATION AND PERSPECTIVE this idea (and as mentioned above), Vasquez and Buehler (2007) showed that participants who used the third-person perspective tended to describe their visualization in more abstract terms (e.g., "being a successful student", "being the best I can be"), whereas those who used the first-person perspective used more concrete descriptions (e.g., "getting a good mark", "trying hard at a task") (for related findings, see Kross & Grossman, 2011;Libby, Shaeffer, & Eibach, 2009;Shaeffer, Libby, & Eibach, 2015). Indeed, Vasquez and Buehler showed that the nature of participants' construals mediated the effect of perspective on motivation.…”