* Social Mimicry Enhances Mu-Suppression During Action Observation.
- During social interactions, there is a tendency for people to mimic the gestures and mannerisms of others, which increases liking and rapport. Psychologists have extensively studied the antecedents and consequences of mimicry at the social level, but the neural basis of this behavior remains unclear. Many researchers have speculated that mimicry is related to activity in the human mirror system (HMS), a network of parietofrontal regions that are involved in both action execution and observation. However, activity of the HMS during reciprocal social interactions involving mimicry has not been demonstrated. Here, we took an electroencephalographic (EEG) index of mirror activity-mu-suppression during action observation-in a pretest/post-test design with 1 of 3 intervening treatments: 1) social interaction in which the participant was mimicked, 2) social interaction without mimicry, or 3) an innocuous computer task, not involving another human agent. The change in mu-suppression from pre- to post-test varied as a function of the intervening treatment, with participants who had been mimicked showing an increase in mu-suppression during the post-treatment action observation session. We propose that this specific modulation of HMS activity as a function of mimicry constitutes the first direct evidence for mirror system involvement in real social mimicry.
Overview of verb demonstrate
The verb demonstrate has 4 senses (first 4 from tagged texts)
1. (24) show, demo, exhibit, present, demonstrate -- (give an exhibition of to an interested
audience; "She shows her dogs frequently"; "We will demo the new software in Washington")
2. (22) prove, demonstrate, establish, show, shew -- (establish the validity of something, as by an
example, explanation or experiment; "The experiment demonstrated the instability of the compound";
"The mathematician showed the validity of the conjecture")
3. (2) attest, certify, manifest, demonstrate, evidence -- (provide evidence for; stand as proof of;
show by one's behavior, attitude, or external attributes; "His high fever attested to his illness";
"The buildings in Rome manifest a high level of architectural sophistication"; "This decision
demonstrates his sense of fairness")
4. (1) demonstrate, march -- (march in protest; take part in a demonstration; "Thousands
demonstrated against globalization during the meeting of the most powerful economic nations in
Seattle")
Overview of adj demonstrated
The adj demonstrated has 1 sense (first 1 from tagged texts)
1. (1) demonstrated -- (having been demonstrated or verified beyond doubt)
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