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Abstract

We investigated if a stimulus-response link relevant for a co-actor's task exerts influence on ones own task. We divided a bimanual reaching task between two participants in such way that they jointly performed the task using one hand each. In our paradigm subjects initiated their responses simultaneously, giving us the possibility to analyze the data with respect to joint timing effects. In this task the relation of the executed movements could be either congruent or incongruent. Finding poorer performance for incongruent movement patterns we suggest that people do have a representation of the other's task. Significant between- and within dyads correlations of RT indicate that co-actors align their movement speed on a global and on a local level. Additional experiments and time-series analyses let us suggest that co-represnetation is dependent on social context and that movement speed alignment proceeds in a low frequency range.