Does action affect perception or memory?
Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 22, 2026

Eye Movement Monitoring of Memory
Published on: August 15, 2010
Adam D Cooper1, Cassidy P Sterling, Michael P Bacon
1Department of Psychology, University of California-Santa Cruz, CA 95064, United States. cooperadamd@gmail.com
Abstract:
Current literature maintains that success or failure in the performance of an action can modify perception of the objects of that action. The tests of that modification, however, may have measured memory rather than perception. To address this issue, the current experiment had observers throw a marble into various sized holes and assess their size through either a haptic or verbal measure. They respond either before the throw while the hole is visible (control condition), after the throw while the hole is visible (perception condition), or after the throw while the hole is not visible (memory condition). It was found that observers judged the hole size to be different depending on their throwing success only during the memory condition. This casts doubt on the conclusion of an action-specific perception account (Witt, 2011), and instead we propose an action-specific memory account.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Factors Affecting Perception
An illustrative example of a perceptual set is the scenario where an airline pilot told...
Perception
Bottom-up processing begins at the sensory level, where receptors detect external environmental stimuli. These could include the tactile sensation of...
Subliminal Perception
Implicit Memories
One key aspect of implicit...
First Impression
Understanding Memory

