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. 2011 Jul 15;11(1):233–245. doi: 10.1007/s12311-011-0301-2

Table 9.

Scheme for the imitation task experiment

Experimental condition Observation task (show with a red cross) Emotion Observation task (show with a red cross) Emotion Observation task (show with a red cross) Emotion Observation task (show with a red cross) Emotion Observation task (show with a red cross) Emotion
Time (s) 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3
Experimental condition Observation task (show with a red cross) Emotion Imitation task (show with a green cross) Emotion Imitation task (show with a green cross) Emotion Imitation task (show with a green cross) Emotion Imitation task (show with a green cross) Emotion
Time (s) 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3
Experimental condition Imitation task (show with a green cross) Emotion Imitation task (show with a green cross) Emotion ….. X5 times
Time (s) 1 3 1 3

The IT experimental stimuli consisted of a mixture of happy, surprised, angry, and disgust emotional faces. The two main conditions that were tested are “observation” and “observation-execution” (i.e., imitation). In the observation condition, subjects were shown with a red cross for 1 s and then followed by one of the four emotional faces for 3 s and this pattern repeated six times with every time randomly with another emotional faces. Subjects were instructed to observe only. In the imitation condition, subjects were shown with a green cross instead and followed by again one of the emotional faces for 3 s and this pattern repeated six times with every time randomly with another emotional faces. However, subjects were instructed to imitate the observed emotional faces. All emotional faces were having the same amount of occurrence. The observation task and the imitation task were alternated five times each.