The goal of this workshop was to advance the understanding of how cognition and action systems are integrated and operate synergistically. This knowledge of how humans efficiently interact and navigate in complex environments is vital for generating a comprehensive understanding of human behavior and will help shape the design of everyday objects and training and working environments. One poignant example is computer technology. Human-computer interfaces equipped with gestural and tangible technologies are becoming increasingly accessible and ubiquitous in educational, leisure, and work settings. A thorough understanding of the interactions between cognition and action is needed help designers engineer devices and environments that maximize the functionality and usability. Thus, the workshop will bring together a diverse group of scholars in the fields of psychology, neuroscience, kinesiology, and human-computer interactions to share and critically evaluate their cutting-edge theoretical, empirical, and translational developments.
Note: Some videos from this workshop may appear slightly altered to protect the privacy of individuals pictured in presentations.
Vision Prioritizes Action-Relevant Information in Perihand Space
Laura E. Thomas, North Dakota State University, USA
Objects within reach afford immediate interaction, creating a potential need to evaluate items that are candidates for action by integrating visual information with spatial, tactile, and proprioceptive representations. Observers show visual biases within the hands’ grasping space that suggest our ability to see the world around us is tied to adaptations that privilege effective action. I will present evidence that the visual system weights processing on the basis of an observer’s current affordances for specific grasping actions: Fast and forceful power grasps enhance temporal sensitivity, whereas detail-oriented precision grasps enhance spatial sensitivity. These visual biases rapidly shift to accommodate newly learned grasp affordances, suggesting that experience-driven plasticity tunes visual cognition to facilitate action. The visual system’s adaptive sensitivity to behavioral contexts even extends to incorporate the affordances of co-actors in the environment, leading vision to prioritize action-relevant information both when observers act alone and when engaging in joint action with a partner. These findings contradict purely modular theories of vision and suggest that a more complete understanding of visual cognition must incorporate consideration of body-based and social contexts.
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