Conflict between object structural and functional affordances in peripersonal space

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Action planning is slowed by conflicting action representations.
• Object perception may also be affected by competing affordances (structural vs. functional).

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if conflicting structural and functional affordances impact object perception.
• To determine if object distance influences affordance competition effects.

Main Methods:

• Twenty-six adults performed reach-to-grasp and semantic tasks on objects with conflicting or non-conflicting affordances.
• Objects were presented at varying distances in a 3D virtual environment.

Main Results:

• Perceptual judgments were slower for conflictual objects compared to non-conflictual ones.
• This conflict effect was significant only when objects were within reach.
• Object position in space modulated the competition between affordances.

Conclusions:

• Competition between structural and functional affordances incurs a processing cost during object perception.
• The spatial location of an object influences the degree of affordance competition observed.