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Limits on action priming by pictures of objects
Alfred B Yu1, Richard A Abrams1, Jeffrey M Zacks1
1Department of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis.
Summary
Viewing objects with handles only primes actions when participants imagine using them. Automatic action priming by object handles was not observed in this study.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Perception-Action
Background:
- The perception-action link suggests visual object recognition can automatically activate associated motor actions.
- Previous research (Tucker & Ellis, 1998) indicated that object handles prime actions for the nearest hand.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate when and why viewing objects primes actions.
- To determine if action priming effects depend on response hand proximity to the object.
Main Methods:
- Seven experiments were conducted.
- Participants judged pictured objects (manmade/natural, upright/inverted) and responded using buttons.
- Response button location (same/opposite side of handle) and distance varied.
Main Results:
- Action priming effects were observed only when participants were explicitly instructed to imagine picking up the objects.
- No evidence for automatic, task-general priming of lateralized responses by object handles was found.
Conclusions:
- Visual object encoding activates action representations only under specific, instructed conditions.
- The findings challenge the notion of automatic action priming from object affordances in all tasks.
