# Citation Rutkowska, J.M. (Joanna), Meyer, M. (Marlene), Hunnius, S. (Sabine) (2021). Adults do not distinguish action intentions based on movement kinematics presented in naturalistic settings [Data set]. https://doi.org/10.34973/e573-ab58. # Abstract Predicting others’ actions is an essential part of acting in the social world. Action kinematics have been proposed to be a cue about others’ intentions. It is still an open question whether adults can use the kinematic information in naturalistic settings, when presented as a part of a richer visual scene than previously examined. We investigated adults’ intention perception from kinematics in naturalistic stimuli in two experiments. In experiment 1, thirty participants watched grasp-to-drink and grasp-to-place movements and identified the movement intention (to drink or to place), whilst their mouth-opening muscle activity was measured with electromyography (EMG) to examine participants’ motor simulation of the observed actions. We found anecdotal evidence that participants could correctly identify the intentions from the action kinematics, although we found no evidence for increased activation of their mylohyoid muscle during the observation of grasp-to-drink compared to grasp-to-place actions. In pre-registered experiment 2, fifty participants completed the same task online. With the increased statistical power, we found strong evidence that participants were not able to discriminate intentions based on movement kinematics. Together, our findings suggest that the role of action kinematics in intention perception is more complex than previously assumed. Although previous research indicates that under certain circumstances observers can perceive and act upon intention-specific kinematic information, perceptual differences in everyday scenes or the observers’ ability to use kinematic information in more naturalistic scenes seems limited. # Background information You can find more information, including relevant publications pertaining to this dataset on the collection overview page at https://doi.org/10.34973/e573-ab58. A complete list of files that are part of this dataset can be found in the file MANIFEST.txt, including a SHA256 hash for each file to allow verification of correct data transfer. # Restrictions on data access and reuse The access to and use of this dataset is only allowed under the conditions listed in the data use agreement, as detailed in the file LICENSE.txt. Neither the Donders Institute or Radboud University, nor the researchers that provide this dataset should be included as an author of publications or presentations if this authorship would be based solely on the use of this data. However, we ask you to acknowledge the use of the data and data derived from the data when publicly presenting any results or algorithms that benefitted from their use: 1) Papers, book chapters, books, posters, oral presentations, and all other presentations of results derived from the data should acknowledge the origin of the data as follows: "Data were provided (in part) by the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen". 2) Authors of publications or presentations using the data should cite relevant publications describing the methods developed and used by the Donders Institute to acquire and process the data. The specific publications that are appropriate to cite in any given study will depend on what the data were used for and for what purposes. When applicable, a list of publications will be specified on the collection overview page.