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One hand, two objects: emergence of affordance in contexts
Anna M Borghi1, Andrea Flumini, Nikhilesh Natraj
1Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Italy. annamaria.borghi@unibo.it
Brain and Cognition
|May 29, 2012
Summary
Object affordances are influenced by context, specifically the relationship between two objects and a hand. Functional relationships speed up responses, while contextual mismatches slow them down, suggesting motor simulation is key.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Research on object affordances traditionally examines single items.
- Context, defined by object relationships and hand presence, may modulate affordances.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if context, specifically the relationship between two objects and a hand, influences object affordances.
- To determine if observing actions and inferring goals affects judgment facilitation.
Main Methods:
- Participants viewed images of two manipulable objects with functional, spatial, or no relation.
- Hand presence and manipulation (using, moving) or absence were varied.
- Response times (RTs) were measured for object relation judgments.
Main Results:
- RTs were faster for functionally related objects than spatially related ones.
- Manipulation postures were slowest in functional contexts; functional postures were inhibited in spatial contexts.
- These effects were absent with foot responses, indicating motor simulation rather than learned associations.
Conclusions:
- Object affordances are context-dependent, modulated by functional and spatial relationships with other objects and hand actions.
- Motor simulation, not just contextual associations, underlies the observed affordance modulation.
- Understanding inferred goals and potential mismatches is crucial for predicting action and perception.
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