Depressive symptoms and affordance perception: The case of perceived reachability boundary

According to the ecological approach to perception, affordances (i.e., action possibilities) are perceived directly in the environment and body-scaled. Previous theoretical work has suggested that the perception of action possibilities is influenced by depression (which has sometimes been conceived as an action-related disorder). However, thus far the relationship between affordance and depression has never been investigated in an experimental study. The goal of this study was to assess the relationships between reachability perception and depressive symptoms. Participants estimated their maximum ability to reach a target with their hand (without moving). Actual motor reachability capacities were then assessed. To determine the critical point, both measures were related to the participant's arm length and converted into an intrinsic body-scaled measurement. Participants were allocated to either the healthy group or the group with depressive symptoms according to their Beck Depression Inventory-Fast Screen (BDI-FS) scores. Results showed that participants with depressive symptoms were more conservative in their estimations than healthy participants. Depressive symptoms were associated with the perception of decreased motor action possibilities in comparison with what was observed when no symptoms were reported. These data are discussed in relation to theoretical models of depression and affordance.