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Learning to perceive the affordance for long-distance throwing: smart mechanism or function learning?
1Division of Kinesiology and Health, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA. qzhu1@uwyo.edu
Summary
People learn to perceive the optimal ball weight for throwing farthest through practice. This skill acquisition, involving a smart mechanism, requires visual feedback to effectively learn the throwability affordance.
Area of Science:
- Motor control and perception
- Human-computer interaction
- Biomechanics of throwing
Background:
- Previous research demonstrated that individuals can select optimal ball weights for maximal throwing distance by hefting.
- The perception of this 'throwability' affordance is hypothesized to involve function learning and smart mechanisms.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how the perception of the throwability affordance is acquired.
- To test the hypotheses of function learning and smart mechanisms in affordance perception.
- To determine the role of visual feedback in learning to perceive throwability.
Main Methods:
- Twenty-four unskilled adult throwers participated.
- Participants initially hefted 48 balls of varying sizes and weights, judging their throwability.
- A month of practice throwing was conducted with different subsets of balls, with participants assigned to groups with or without visual feedback.
Main Results:
- Participants initially could not detect throwability by hefting alone.
- Throwing performance significantly improved after the practice period.
- The ability to perceive the throwability affordance was acquired, but only by participants who received visual feedback during practice.
Conclusions:
- The perception of the throwability affordance is not innate but acquired through learning.
- A smart mechanism, likely developed during motor learning, is involved in perceiving this affordance.
- Visual feedback is crucial for acquiring the ability to perceive the throwability affordance.
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