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Rediscovering Richard Held: Activity and Passivity in Perceptual Learning.
Fernando Bermejo1,2,3, Mercedes X Hüg1,2,3, Ezequiel A Di Paolo4,5,6
1Centro de Investigación y Transferencia en Acústica, Universidad Tecnológica Nacional - Facultad Regional Córdoba, CONICET, Córdoba, Argentina.
Frontiers in Psychology
|June 9, 2020
Summary
Self-generated movements are crucial for perceptual learning and sensory adaptation, as shown by Richard Held
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Neuroscience
- Perception Research
Background:
- Pioneering work by Richard M. Held in the 1950s-1960s explored sensory adaptation and perceptual learning.
- Held's research demonstrated the necessity of self-generated movements for adaptation and learning.
- This work, initially debated, has seen renewed interest in embodied cognitive science.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review Held's research and its interpretations regarding activity and passivity in perceptual learning.
- To classify theoretical positions on the role of self-generated movements (contextual, enabling, constitutive).
- To critique the operationalization of activity and passivity in experimental studies.
Main Methods:
- Review of historical experimental data and theoretical interpretations of Richard Held's work.
- Classification of theoretical stances on the necessity and nature of self-generated movements in learning.
- Conceptual analysis of activity and passivity, introducing dimensions of agency (initiation, control, monitoring).
Main Results:
- Held's experiments consistently highlighted the importance of self-generated movements for sensory adaptation.
- Theoretical interpretations vary on whether movement is merely facilitatory or causally necessary for learning.
- The active-passive distinction is complex, not binary, and requires nuanced dimensions like action initiation, control, and monitoring.
Conclusions:
- Self-generated movement plays a significant role in perceptual learning, potentially being causally necessary.
- Refining the concepts of activity and passivity, using dimensions of agency, clarifies their role in perception.
- This framework helps reconcile enaction and ecological psychology perspectives on embodied perception.
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