Open Collections

UBC Faculty Research and Publications

The “What” and “How” of Pantomime Actions MacNeil, Raymond R.; Enns, James T.

Abstract

Pantomimes are human actions that simulate ideas, objects, and events, commonly used in conversation, performance art, and gesture-based interfaces for computing and controlling robots. Yet, their underlying neurocognitive mechanisms are not well understood. In this review, we examine pantomimes through two parallel lines of research: (1) the two visual systems (TVS) framework for visually guided action, and (2) the neuropsychological literature on limb apraxia. Historically, the TVS framework has considered pantomime actions as expressions of conscious perceptual processing in the ventral stream, but an emerging view is that they are jointly influenced by ventral and dorsal stream processing. Within the apraxia literature, pantomimes were historically viewed as learned motor schemas, but there is growing recognition that they include creative and improvised actions. Both literatures now recognize that pantomimes are often created spontaneously, sometimes drawing on memory and always requiring online cognitive control. By highlighting this convergence of ideas, we aim to encourage greater collaboration across these two research areas, in an effort to better understand these uniquely human behaviors.

Item Metadata

Title
The “What” and “How” of Pantomime Actions
Creator
MacNeil, Raymond R.; Enns, James T.
Publisher
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Date Issued
2024-09-26
Description
Pantomimes are human actions that simulate ideas, objects, and events, commonly used in conversation, performance art, and gesture-based interfaces for computing and controlling robots. Yet, their underlying neurocognitive mechanisms are not well understood. In this review, we examine pantomimes through two parallel lines of research: (1) the two visual systems (TVS) framework for visually guided action, and (2) the neuropsychological literature on limb apraxia. Historically, the TVS framework has considered pantomime actions as expressions of conscious perceptual processing in the ventral stream, but an emerging view is that they are jointly influenced by ventral and dorsal stream processing. Within the apraxia literature, pantomimes were historically viewed as learned motor schemas, but there is growing recognition that they include creative and improvised actions. Both literatures now recognize that pantomimes are often created spontaneously, sometimes drawing on memory and always requiring online cognitive control. By highlighting this convergence of ideas, we aim to encourage greater collaboration across these two research areas, in an effort to better understand these uniquely human behaviors.
Subject
pantomime; grasping; apraxia; tool use; visually guided action; two visual systems; ventral stream; dorsal stream; cognitive control
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2025-01-03
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
CC BY 4.0
DOI
10.14288/1.0447651
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/90022
Affiliation
Arts, Faculty of; Alumni; Psychology, Department of
Citation
Vision 8 (4): 58 (2024)
Publisher DOI
10.3390/vision8040058
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty
Rights URI
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

Item Media

Item Citations and Data

Rights

CC BY 4.0