Being selective at the plate: processing dependence between perceptual variables relates to hitting goals and...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Motor Control
• Perception

Background:

• Motor actions can influence perceptual judgments of goal objects.
• Action-specific effects are modulated by actor goals and action choices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how varying actor goals and action choices affect action-specific perceptual effects.
• To explore the relationship between action-specific perception and performance in a motor skill.

Main Methods:

• Expert baseball players performed directional hitting tasks in a batting simulation.
• Participants made perceptual judgments on ball speed, size, and plate crossing location.
• Experiment 2 manipulated ball size based on plate crossing location to mimic effects.

Main Results:

• Perceived ball size increased and perceived speed decreased when ball location was optimal for the hitting task.
• Processing dependency between variables correlated positively with batting performance.
• Larger ball sizes increased swing initiations and improved task success for optimal pitches.

Conclusions:

• Attentional accentuation of goal-relevant targets underlies action-related perceptual changes.
• Action-specific effects may play a role in action selection.
• Perception is dynamically modulated by the actor's goals and intended actions.