perception and action pt 1/2 Flashcards
why do we perceive the world
we perceive the world so we can take action in it
sea squirt
moves around as a larva so it needs a nervous system
anchors later on and digests its own nervous system
- no point in having a nervous system if you dont need to move around
ecological approach to perception
gibson argued that laboratory research is not ecologically valid because the viewers are stationary and not able to move around
- omvement creates perceptual information
- we make use of invariant info in environment
optic flow
objects appear as observer moves past them
gradient of flow: difference in flow as a function of distance from the observer, determines speed of motion
focus of expansion: point in distance that is invariant (no flow)
self-produced information
perception (flow) and action (movement) interact
both in a constant feedback loop
ex. gymnast doing a backflip use their eyes to adjsut
multisensory integration
ex. swinging room
when perception is room moves forward, participants sway to compensate even in the absence of movement
vision input has a large influence over perception and movement
action specific perception hypothesis
people perceive their environment in terms of their ability to act on it
ex. softball players veiw the ball as being larger if they could hit it
common coding theory
actions are coded in terms of the perceivable effects they should generate
simon paradigm
told to respond with left button for low and right button for high
told to respond with right light to low and left light to high
identical actions but reaction times were flipped
visual direction strategy
studied how we avoid obstacles to reach goals
- found that people orient towards goal and away from obstacle
- dynamic interaction of perception and action
spatial updating
in the absence of visual feedback, one can still make a course through the environment depending on:
- initial visual perception of location
- updating self postion and updating target location
CONTROL AND PROPRIOCEPTION
how do we stay on course
- optic flow: gradient of flow, focus of expansion
- visual direction strategy: orienting towards goal and away from obstacles
- spatial updating: updating of position and target location using motor control and proprioception
landmarks
during training people focused on decision landmarks
found that navigation depended on perception and memory of decision point landmarks
cognitive maps
recorded medial temporal lobe cells while navigating and found different types of cells
place cells
fire when animal is in a location
