Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mutuality in the Perception of Affordances and the Control of Movement

  • Chapter
Progress in Motor Control

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 629))

Abstract

James Gibson introduced the concept of affordance to emphasize the importance of behavior in constraining perception. In this view, perception is not judged in terms of sensitivities to properties that are measured by physical instruments (photometers for brightness, scales for weight, etc.) but in terms of properties that matter to behaving systems (whether an object is appropriate to carry out some task). The affordance notion is brought to bear on understanding and motivating a variety of experimental phenomena in the study of dynamic touch, the domain of touch most concerned with using objects and interacting with surfaces.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    In fact, in the research underlying the framework being described here, participants rarely ``know'' anything about the objects apart from wielding them. They are not told how many objects are involved, what their shape is, or what their size range is.

References

  • Amazeen, E., & Turvey, M. T. (1996). Weight perception and the haptic size-weight illusion are functions of the inertia tensor. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 22, 213–232.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bingham, G. P. (1993). Perceiving the size of trees: Form as information about scale. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 19, 1139–1161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carello, C. (2004). Perceiving affordances by dynamic touch: hints from the control of movement. Ecological Psychology, 16, 31–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carello, C., Shockley, K., Harrison, S., Richardson, M., & Turvey, M. T. (2003). Heaviness perception depends on movement. In S. Rogers & J. Effken (Eds.), Studies in perception and action, VII (pp. 87–90). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carello, C., Thuot, S., & Turvey, M. T. (2000). Aging and the perception of a racket’s sweet spot. Human Movement Science, 19, 28–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carello, C., Thuot, S., Anderson, K. L., & Turvey, M. T. (1999). Perceiving the sweet spot. Perception, 28, 1128–1141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carello, C., & Turvey, M. T. (2000). Rotational invariants and dynamic touch. In M. Heller (Ed.), Touch, representation and blindness (pp. 27–66). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carello, C., & Turvey, M. T. (2004). Physics and psychology of the muscle sense. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13, 25–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charpentier, A. (1891). Analyse experimentale de quelques elements de la sensation de poids [Experimental study of some aspects of weight perception]. Archives de Physiologie Normales et Pathologiques, 3, 122–135.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitzpatrick, P., Carello, C., & Turvey, M. T. (1994). Eigenvalues of the inertia tensor and exteroception by the “muscular sense.” Neuroscience, 60, 551–568.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson, E. J. (1969). Principles of perceptual learning and development. New York: Appleton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson, E. J., & Pick, A. (2000). An ecological approach to perceptual learning and development. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson, J. J. (1966). The senses considered as perceptual systems. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson, J. J. (1986). The ecological approach to visual perception. Hillsdale, NJ: LEA (Originally published in 1979).

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodale, M. A., & Milner, D. A. (2004). Sight unseen: An exploration of conscious and unconscious vision. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hommel, B., Mussler, J., Aschersleben, G., Prinz, W. (2001). The theory of event coding. A framework for perception and action planning. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24, 849–937.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kingma, I., Beek, P., & van Dieen J. H. (2002). The inertia tensor versus static moment and mass in perceiving length and heaviness of hand-wielded rods. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 28, 180–191.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lederman, S. J., & Klatzky, R. L. (1987). Hand movements: A window into haptic object recognition. Cognitive Psychology, 19, 342–368.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lederman, S. J., & Klatzky, R. L. (1993). Extracting object properties by haptic exploration. Acta Psychologica, 84, 29–40.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Michaels, C. F. (2000). Information, perception, and action: What should ecological psychologists learn from Milner and Goodale (1995)? Ecological Psychology, 12, 241–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michaels, C. F., & Carello, C. (1981). Direct perception. New York: Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milner, D. A., & Goodale, D. A. (1995). The visual brain in action. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pagano, C. C., Grutzmacher, R. P., & Jenkins, J. C. (2001). Comparing verbal and reaching responses to visually perceived egocentric distances, Ecological Psychology, 13, 197–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prinz, W. (1997). Perception and action planning. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 9, 129–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reed, E. S. (1982). An outline of a theory of action systems. Journal of Motor Behavior, 14, 98–134.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Riley, M. A., Wagman, J. B., Santana, M-V., Carello, C., & Turvey, M. T. (2002). Perceptual behavior: Recurrence analysis of a haptic exploratory procedure. Perception, 31, 481–510.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, R. E., & Wagman, J. B. (2001). Explanatory burdens and natural law: invoking a field description of perception-action. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24, 905–906.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shockley, K., Carello, C., & Turvey, M. T. (2004). Metamers in the haptic perception of heaviness and moveable–ness. Perception & Psychophysics, 66, 731–742.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shockley, K., Grocki, M., Carello, C., & Turvey, M. T. (2001). Somatosensory attunement to the rigid body laws. Experimental Brain Research, 136, 133–137.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stroop, M., Turvey, M. T., Fitzpatrick, P., & Carello, C. (2000). Inertia tensor and weight-percept models of length perception by static holding. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 26, 1133–1147.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Turvey, M. T. (1996). Dynamic touch. American Psychologist, 51, 1134–1152.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Turvey, M. T., Burton, G., Amazeen, E. L., Butwill, M., & Carello, C. (1998). Perceiving the width and height of a hand-held object by dynamic touch. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 24, 35–48.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Turvey, M. T., & Carello, C. (1981). Cognition: The view from ecological realism. Cognition, 10, 313–321.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Turvey, M. T., & Carello, C. (1995). Dynamic touch. In W. Epstein & S. Rogers (Eds.), Handbook of perception and cognition, Vol. 5. Perception of space and motion (pp. 401–490). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turvey, M .T., Shockley, K., & Carello, C. (1999). Affordance, proper function, and the physical basis of perceived heaviness. Cognition, 73, B17–B26.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wagman, J., B. & Carello, C. (2001). Inertial constraints on affordances of tools. Ecological Psychology, 13, 173–195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wagman, J. B. & Carello, C. (2003). Haptically creating affordances: The user-tool interface. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. 9, 175–186.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wagman, J. B., & Malek, E. A. (2007). Perception of whether an object can be carried through an aperture depends on anticipated speed. Ecological Psychology, 54, 54–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagman, J. B., Shockley, K., Riley, M. A., & Turvey, M. T. (2001). Attunement, calibration, and exploration in fast haptic perceptual learning. Journal of Motor Behavior, 33, 323--327.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wagman, J. B., & Taylor, K. R. (2005). Perceiving affordances for aperture crossing for the person-plus-object system. Ecological Psychology, 17, 105–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warren, W. H. (1984). Perceiving affordances: Visual guidance of stairclimbing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 10, 683–703.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Warren, W. H. (2006). The dynamics of perception and action. Psychological Review, 113, 358–389.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Warren, W. H., & Whang, S. (1987). Visual guidance of walking through apertures: Body-scaled information for affordances. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 13, 371–383.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Webber, C. L., & Zbilut, J. P. (1994). Dynamical assessment of physiological systems and states using recurrence plot strategies. Journal of Applied Physiology, 76, 965–973.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Webber, C. L., & Zbilut, J. P. (1996). Assessing deterministic structures in physiological systems using recurrence plot strategies. In M. C. K. Khoo (Ed.) Bioengineering approaches to pulmonary physiology and medicine (pp. 137–148). New York: Plenum.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Weber, E. H. (1978). The sense of touch (H. E. Ross Ed. and Translator). London: Academic Press. (Original work published 1834).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for the Ecological Study of Perception and Action, University of Connecticut, CESPA U-1020, 406 Babbidge Road, Storrs, CT 06269-1020, USA

    Claudia Carello

Authors
  1. Claudia Carello
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jeffrey B. Wagman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claudia Carello .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Dagmar Sternad (Dr) (Dr)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Carello, C., Wagman, J.B. (2009). Mutuality in the Perception of Affordances and the Control of Movement. In: Sternad, D. (eds) Progress in Motor Control. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 629. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-77064-2_14

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation