Imitation performance biases are moderated by perceived accuracy in golf putting.

ABSTRACT: Watching others act can cause unintentional biases in the observer's next action. This "contagion" occurs due to the shared processes engaged during observation and execution, interfering with performance after observation. Biases can be imitative or compensatory, with the direction thought to be dependent on the presence of observed-induced prediction errors (PE: difference between predicted/expected and observed performance). To replicate and test the proposed PE mechanism, we compared golfers watching "on-target" and errorful putts. Twenty-three experienced golfers alternated putting a ball to a centre target on a nine-square grid (without outcome feedback) and watching videos of an actor putting to the same grid. Across four conditions, we covaried the location of the actor's putts (ce

SUBMITTER: Peters CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12575771 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature