Affordance-based perception-action dynamics: A model of visually guided braking

Area of Science:

• Behavioral dynamics
• Nonlinear dynamics
• Perception-action dynamics

Background:

• Behavioral dynamics models adaptive behavior as self-organization between animal and environment.
• Nonlinear dynamics offers a language for describing stable yet flexible behavior.
• Affordance-based control emerged to address behavioral dynamics' neglect of actor capabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a dynamical description of affordance-based control, reconciling it with nonlinear dynamics.
• To extend behavioral dynamics by incorporating actor capabilities and constraints.
• To propose a general modeling strategy unifying both theoretical frameworks.

Main Methods:

• Developed a novel dynamical model based on nonlinear dynamics principles.
• Utilized visually guided braking as a representative behavior for model construction.
• Integrated concepts of 'hard' constraints (actor capabilities) and 'soft' constraints (preferences).

Main Results:

• Demonstrated a dynamical model of affordance-based control consistent with nonlinear dynamics.
• Showcased how actions can respect actor limits while being guided by environmental information.
• Validated the framework's ability to incorporate both capability limits and preferences.

Conclusions:

• The proposed framework successfully integrates affordance-based control within nonlinear dynamics.
• Visually guided actions can be understood as respecting intrinsic capabilities and external cues.
• Introduced 'soft' constraints into perception-action dynamics, opening new research avenues.