Mind-Brain Lecture: Günther Knoblich (Donders Institute & CEU Budapest)

“Planning, Performing, and Observing Joint Actions”

For doctoral students: “Meet the Speaker”, Friday, 28 October, 10.00–12.00, Bernstein Center, Seminar Room 114.
Contact: anna.kuhlen@bccn-berlin.de Abstract: When people act together they need to consider each other’s actions in order to successfully achieve a joint outcome. I will report three studies that were conducted in order to identify neural markers characterizing the cognitive processes that allow individuals to plan, perform, and observe joint actions. The first study used a pre-cueing paradigm where people planned to either give an object to another person or to receive an object from another person. The results showed that the need for coordination during joint action modulated ERP components that reflect individual planning processes. The second study investigated error processing in duetting pianists, analyzing ERP components that occurred after errors in the pianists’ own part or the partner’s part. The results showed that duetting pianists not only monitor each other’s individual performance but also process the harmonic implications of the error for the joint performance. Finally, in an fMRI study we found that observing joint actions led to a higher activation in brain areas that support social cognition than observing the independent actions of two individuals. Taken together the results add to an emerging picture of how individual cognition is geared towards supporting joint action. Günther Knoblich is Professor in Cognitive Psychology at Radboud University and the Donders Center for Cognition in Nijmegen (NL) and at Central European University, Budapest. His research career includes positions in Wolfgang Prinz’ group at the Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research in Munich, an Associate Professorship at Rutgers University (USA), and a Full Professorship at the University of Birmingham (UK). In numerous publications, Günther Knoblich, together with his collaborators and his lab ‘The Social Mind and Body Group’, explores a wide range of topics, including links between perception-action, interpersonal coordination, embodied communication, sense of agency, and thinking and culture. His research follows an experimental tradition and includes both behavioral and neurophysiological data.

Representative publications include:
 
Knoblich, G., & Repp, B. (2009). Inferring agency from sound. Cognition, 111, 48-262.
 
Knoblich, G., & Sebanz, N. (2008). Evolving intentions for social interaction: From entrainment to joint action. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 363, 2021-2031.
 
Sebanz, N., Knoblich, G., Prinz, W., & Wascher, E. (2006). Twin Peaks: An ERP study of action planning and control in co-acting individuals. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18, 859-870.
 
Sebanz, N., Bekkering, H., & Knoblich, G. (2006). Joint action: Bodies and minds moving together. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10, 70-76.
 
Repp, B.H. & Knoblich, G.K. (2004). Perceiving action identity - How pianists recognize their own performances. Psychological Science, 15(9), 604-609.

For more information:
http://web.mac.com/gknoblich/index.html

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