The influence of location, ownership, and the presence of a coactor on the processing of objects

Anna Michelle McPhee, Merryn D. Constable, Elizabeth J Saccone, Timothy N Welsh

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
27 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Humans operate in complex environments where social interactions require individuals to constantly attend to people and objects around them. Despite the complexity of these interactions from a visuomotor perspective,humans can engage and thrive in social settings. The purpose of the current study was to examine thesimultaneous influence of multiple social cues (i.e., ownership and the presence of a coactor) on the processingof objects. Participants performed an object-based compatibility task in the presence and absence of a coactingconfederate. Participants indicated whether pictures of mugs (that were either self-owned or unowned) wereupright or inverted. The pictures appeared at one of 2 locations (a near or far location relative to the participant)on a computer screen laid flat on (parallel to) the tabletop. When present, the coactor stood on the oppositeside of the screen/table. Analysis of response times (RTs) indicated that the processing of objects wasinfluenced by the object’s ownership status, the presence of the coactor, and where the object was located on thescreen. Specifically, RTs for pictures of self-owned mugs were shorter than unowned mugs, but only when thepictures were located at the near location. Further, the presence of a confederate resulted in shorter RTs for pictureslocated at the near but not the far location. These findings suggest that when objects were placed at the far location,the additional social cues of ownership and social context did not influence visuomotor processing of the objects

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)362-373
Number of pages12
JournalCanadian Journal of Experimental Psychology
Volume75
Issue number4
Early online date25 Mar 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2021

Keywords

  • Action space
  • Ownership
  • Peripersonal space
  • Social cognition
  • Visuomotor system

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The influence of location, ownership, and the presence of a coactor on the processing of objects'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this