Social cognition in simple action coordination: A case for direct perception.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Science
• Social Psychology
• Philosophy of Mind

Background:

• Action coordination is fundamental to social interaction.
• Existing models often rely on recursive mindreading, which can be cognitively demanding.
• Alternative explanations for social cognition in coordination are needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To outline a direct social perception (DSP) account of simple action coordination.
• To present DSP as a less cognitively demanding alternative to mindreading.
• To demonstrate DSP's ability to explain coordination flexibility and enable formal modeling.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis of social cognition in action coordination.
• Development of a theoretical framework based on an agent's field of affordances.
• Comparison with existing mindreading-based accounts (e.g., Tomasello's).

Main Results:

• Simple action coordination can be explained through direct social perception (DSP) of affordances.
• Coordination occurs when agents' actions or affordances shape each other's perceived affordance fields within a shared intention.
• DSP offers a more parsimonious explanation for flexibility and strategy-switching in coordination.

Conclusions:

• Direct social perception provides a viable and less cognitively demanding framework for understanding action coordination.
• The proposed DSP account, based on shared affordances, supports formal modeling and explains adaptive coordination strategies.
• Perceiving affordances for others and recognizing mutual influence on affordance fields are key components of social perception in coordination.