PSY342H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Supplementary Motor Area, Motor Imagery, Motor Cognition
Document Summary
Chapter 11 - motor cognition and mental simulation. Putting ourselves into someone else"s shoes requires motor cognition. Motor cognition is mental processing in which the motor system draws on stored information to plan and produce actions and also allows us to anticipate, predict and interpret the actions of others. Action is a visible manifestation of a series of mental processes. These same mental processes involved in acting can be used in thinking about actions without actually performing them. Movement is a voluntary displacement of a body part in physical space. Action is a series of movements that must be accomplished in order to reach a goal. Therefore, action is goal directed and movement is not goal directed. Motor cognition involves all the mental processes involved in the planning, preparation and production of our own actions and also includes the mental processes involved in anticipating, predicting and interpreting the actions of others.