Antonia Hamilton's lab for Social Cognition
Current Research
Everyday, we make judgments about what other people want, think, feel or know, just by watching them move. For example, when watching a child reach for a cookie, we infer the child's desire automatically. The Hamilton lab aims to uncover the cognitive and brain mechanisms which allow us to make sense of other people's non-verbal behaviour, and to determine if these systems fail in individuals with developmental disorders.
This work is important because action understanding is one of the building blocks of human social interaction. A better scientific theory of action understanding can contribute to better help for children who struggle with social interaction (e.g. children with autism) and to a better understanding of what makes humans unique.
Topics we are currently studying include -
Representing actions and goals hierarchically
When you see someone tie a shoelace or turn on a light, you understand the sequence of movements and are able to link them to your own experience. We are studying how this action knowledge is organised in the brain. In particular, we are testing a hierarchical model of action knowledge, as shown in the diagram. This means that simple hand movements can contribute to many different goals, and a single goal might draw on a sequence of hand movements. This makes intuitive sense, so we are trying to find evidence for this hierarchy in the brain. Are different levels of the hierarchy localised to different brain regions? Or are different types of action localised to different brain regions?
Actors and their actions
If you see someone fire a gun, your reaction depends on whether the person with the gun is a friend or enemy. Previous studies of action have normally looked at the action in isolation, without considering the identity of the actor. We are now looking at action understanding in a broader context, including different types of actors, both human and non-human.
Social signals for mimicry
Mimicry is the tendency to unconsciously copy other people's actions. People mimic more in some situations than others, for example, people tend to mimic more when they are with someone they like. We are studying the cognitive and brain systems when control when and why you mimic. We have found that direct eye gaze rapidly enhances mimicry - you are faster to mimic the hand action of the girl on the right when she is looking at you.
Goal understanding in autism
Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition affecting social and communication skills. There is some debate about whether autism affects the ability to understand other people's simple, non verbal actions, and how this might relate to difficulties in other social domains. We are currently using behavioural and neuroimaging methods to explore these ideas.
Representing and understanding the human body
A basic component of understanding actions is the ability to represent the human body, and to make sense of other people's bodies in different configurations. We might also see the same action from different viewpoints and need to be able to link these together. We have used neuroimaging and behavioural methods to test if adults and children with autism can understand body postures independent of viewpoint.
Funding
Research in the Hamilton lab is funded by:
- ESRC
- Autism Speaks
- British Academy
- The School of Psychology, University of Nottingham
Data sharing
In accordance with funding guidelines, published anonymised data collected in the Hamilton lab is available to other researchers for secondary analysis. Available datasets are described in our publications. To access data, please email me with details of the dataset you want and why. Access to some data (e.g. video) may be limited by issues of partipant confidentiality.
School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK antonia.hamilton - at - nottingham.ac.uk