The Relationship between Action Execution, Imagination, and Perception in Children

Action simulation has been proposed as a unifying mechanism for imagination, perception and execution of action. In children, there has been considerable focus on the development of action imagination, although these findings have not been related to other processes that may share similar mechanisms. The purpose of the research reported in this thesis was to examine action imagination and perception (action possibility judgements) from late childhood to adolescence. Accordingly, imagined and perceived movement times (MTs) were compared to actual MTs in a continuous pointing task as a function of age. The critical finding was that differences between actual and imagined MTs remained relatively stable across the age groups, whereas perceived MTs approached actual MTs as a function of age. These findings suggest that although action simulation may be developed in early childhood, action possibility judgements may rely on additional processes that continue to develop in late childhood and adolescence.M.Sc