Some Effects of a Model's Performance on an Observer's Electromyographic Activity

It is suggested that motor reactions may be elicited in an observer as a consequence of his exposure to a model and that such reactions may become conditioned to environmental events.

Abstract

It is suggested that motor reactions may be elicited in an observer as a consequence of his exposure to a model and that such reactions may become conditioned to environmental events. An experiment is reported in which observers showed greater EMG activity in the arm while watching models arm wrestle than while watching a model stutter, and greater lip EMG activity while watching a model stutter than while watching arm wrestling. Some evidence for conditioning was found in the arm activity of males watching wrestling.