Joint Action Enhances Subsequent Social Learning by Strengthening a Mirror Mechanism

Many of our activities involve joint action. Here we explore a possible consequence of joint action: Completing a task may improve one’s ability to learn a novel task from a partner. In the Joint condition of three experiments, participants and experimenters jointly used a wire to cut candles for five minutes. In the control condition, the participants used the wire to cut the candles alone. After cutting, the experimenter demonstrated a novel, complex movement that was imitated by the participant. Compared to the control condition, participants in the Joint condition imitated the experimenter more accurately, at a shorter lag, and reproduced the sequence more accurately without the experimenter’s involvement. In experiments using electroencephalography, we used mu-desynchronization to track changes in the action mirror neuron system produced by candle-cutting. Although we did not confirm all predictions of a mirror neuron account, the results were generally consistent with our hypothesis that joint action enhances subsequent social learning by changing a mirror mechanism. In addition, the Joint participants reported greater closeness to the experimenter. We end the chapter by briefly exploring the consequences of joint modification of the mirror neuron system for social relations, teaching, and rehabilitation.