title: Nesting in perception of affordances for stepping and leaping.
abstract: Perception of affordances for a given behavior typically reflects the task-specific action capabilities of the perceiver. However, many experiments have shown a discrepancy between the perceptual and behavioral boundaries for a given behavior. One possibility for such a discrepancy is that the context of many experimental tasks transformed what is typically a dynamic perception-action task into an analytical or reflective judgment. We investigated this hypothesis with respect to perception of maximum stepping and leaping distance. For both behaviors, perception of these affordances more closely reflected action capabilities when the perceptual task was nested within a superordinate task than when it was not (regardless of whether the behavior itself was performed). Additionally, verbal reports of perception of maximum leaping distance more closely reflected action capabilities when there was an explicit time limit on such reports. The results are discussed in the context of the ecological principle of nesting and in attentional focus during motor control tasks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Illinois State University, Campus Box 4620, Normal, IL, 61790-4620, USA. jeffreywagman@illinoisstate.edu.
authors.forename: Jeffrey B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Wagman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Illinois State University, Campus Box 4620, Normal, IL, 61790-4620, USA.
authors.forename: Jiuyang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: School of Kinesiology and Recreation, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Peter J K
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Embodied perception; Motor control; Perception and Action