Action perception via auditory information: Agent identification and discrimination with complex movement sounds

Abstract

Action and perception are represented in a common framework. Greater motor experience should therefore lead to improved perception. This has been shown with the help of visual stimuli. Given that rhythm and timing are important factors in movement perception, auditory self-recognition should also be superior to recognition of auditory stimuli produced by others. To test this hypothesis, we examined performance in a discrimination and an identification task with movement sounds produced by participants themselves (motor and auditory experiences), by the partner of the participant within the experimental study (auditory experience), and by strangers (no experience). The results of the discrimination task show that participants could distinguish between identical and different sound pairs independent of the agent. The results of the identification task show that participants could identify their own movement sounds significantly better than strangers' sounds. The coupling of action and perception thus seems detectable via naturally emerging movement sounds (auditory information). Taken together the present study confirms and extends current theories regarding action-perception coupling, by providing evidence that self–other effects occur in the auditory domain using movement sounds. Future research should explore the underlying (neurophysiological) mechanisms that account for the present results.

Keywords:

• Action
• Agency
• Movement
• Perception
• Sound

We are grateful to Lukas Streese for help with data collection, Anita Todd for English Editing and the Performance Psychology Group of the German Sport University Cologne for their helpful comments.

We are grateful to Lukas Streese for help with data collection, Anita Todd for English Editing and the Performance Psychology Group of the German Sport University Cologne for their helpful comments.

Additional information

Funding

Funding: This research was supported by the German Research Foundation [grant number DFG: RA940/13-1].