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Irrelevant Stimuli and Action Control: Analyzing the Influence of Ignored Stimuli via the Distractor-Response Binding Paradigm
Published on: May 14, 2014
Controlling attention through action: observing actions primes action-related stimulus dimensions
Sabrina Fagioli1, Fabio Ferlazzo, Bernhard Hommel
1University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Psychology, Cognitive Ergonomics Laboratory, Via dei Marsi, 78, 00185 Rome, Italy. sabrina.fagioli@uniroma1.it
Neuropsychologia
|August 11, 2007
Summary
Action planning primes perception, even without active planning. Observing grasping actions improved size detection, while observing reaching actions improved location detection, linking action and perception.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Visual Perception
- Action Planning
Background:
- Action planning influences perception, with grasp planning aiding size processing and reach planning aiding location processing.
- This phenomenon, termed 'backward-priming,' suggests shared neural resources between action and perception.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if action-primed perception occurs without active motor planning.
- To determine if observing actions can prime corresponding perceptual dimensions.
Main Methods:
- Participants observed video clips of grasping or reaching actions.
- Following action observation, participants detected size- or location-defined visual deviants in stimulus sequences.
Main Results:
- Faster detection of size deviants after observing grasping actions.
- Faster detection of location deviants after observing reaching actions.
Conclusions:
- Perceptual and action planning systems share a common representational basis.
- Observing actions can implicitly prime related perceptual information, demonstrating 'attention to action' guiding 'attention to stimuli'.
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