Action and motivation: measuring perception or strategies?

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Cognitive Science
• Perception

Background:

• Previous research suggested motivated distortions in distance perception, measurable through actions like beanbag throwing.
• These distortions were thought to occur when judging distances to desirable objects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether motivated distortions in distance perception are influenced by instructional goals.
• To determine if beanbag throwing performance variations are due to desire or task instructions.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments were conducted involving participants throwing beanbags towards a target.
• Instructions varied, emphasizing either proximity (being closest) or accuracy (hitting the target).
• The intrinsic value of the target was manipulated.

Main Results:

• Underthrowing (throwing short) was observed when the instruction emphasized proximity, regardless of the target's desirability.
• When the instruction emphasized accuracy, throwing performance was unbiased, showing no systematic distance distortion.
• These findings suggest instructional effects, not motivated perception, explain previous observations.

Conclusions:

• Instructional goals significantly impact performance in tasks measuring perceived distance.
• The perceived distance to desirable objects may not be as distorted by motivation as previously assumed.
• Task instructions are a critical factor to consider when interpreting action-based measures of perception.