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Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 27, 2026

Creating Objects and Object Categories for Studying Perception and Perceptual Learning
Published on: November 2, 2012
Bodies and other visual objects: the dialectics of reaching toward objects.
Rob Ellis1, Dan Swabey, John Bridgeman
1School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 7AA, UK. rellis@plymouth.ac.uk
Observed actions influence our own responses, even when we try to ignore them. This suggests our brains automatically process action possibilities based on object and agent interactions in space.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Human Motor Control
Background:
- Understanding how humans perceive and react to observed actions is crucial for explaining social cognition and motor control.
- Previous research indicates that observing actions can prime or interfere with one's own motor responses.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how observed reaches toward objects influence an individual's concurrent object classification task.
- To determine if action perception is modulated by the affordances of objects and the kinematics of the observed action.
Main Methods:
- Participants performed a key-press task to classify object orientation while viewing video clips of reaches toward those objects.
- The reach direction (left/right) and hand used (left/right) were manipulated, as was object handle orientation.
- Participant responses were analyzed for interference or facilitation effects related to the observed reach.
Main Results:
- Object classification responses were significantly influenced by the observed reach direction and hand.
- The influence of the observed reach reflected potential complementary actions, considering object orientation and reach kinematics.
- This suggests that action perception is tightly coupled with the potential for interaction within a given scene.
Conclusions:
- Observed actions are not processed in isolation but are integrated with environmental context to predict potential interactions.
- The findings support theories of embodied cognition, where perception is intrinsically linked to action capabilities.
- This interdependency of action possibilities in three-dimensional space is a fundamental mechanism shaping behavior.

