Anticipated Imitation

Abstract Common knowledge holds that it takes two to tango. The same goes for imitation, which involves (at least) a model and an imitator. Many empirical studies on imitation have focused on assessing the imitator’s behavior as a function of model characteristics, thus construing the models’ behavior as stimulus, and the imitators’ behavior as response. This is particularly true for research on automatic imitation or motor priming. Yet, the same imitation scenario can also be assessed as an action–effect scenario from the perspective of the model. This perspective asks how the models’ actions are shaped by the foreseeable behavior of imitators, which from the perspective of the model can be construed as predictable action effects. This chapter approaches anticipated imitation through the theoretical lens of ideomotor action control, which offers a mechanistic framework to accommodate bidirectional influences from model to imitator and vice versa. We further discuss how embracing an ideomotor view on imitation highlights close connections of imitation to other aspects of human action control. This includes actions that aim at affecting the inanimate environment as well as actions that aim at evoking non-imitative responses of social interaction partners. Evidence from experimental studies supports these theoretical ideas by adapting classical response-effect compatibility paradigms to imitative scenarios and other social interactions, suggesting that the social consequences of one’s own behavior are readily integrated into human action representations.