Expectations of efficient actions bias social perception: a pre-registered online replication

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Science
• Social Psychology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Humans naturally interpret actions as goal-directed and intentional.
• Predictive processing models suggest social perception relies on predicting optimal movement trajectories.

Purpose of the Study:

• To replicate and validate findings on the influence of predicted energy-efficient trajectories on social perception.
• To test the robustness of these perceptual biases in an online setting.

Main Methods:

• Participants judged the perceived disappearance points of hands reaching for objects.
• Experiments manipulated environmental constraints, such as obstacles and empty space.

Main Results:

• Perceptual judgments were biased towards predicted efficient movement paths.
• Reaches requiring obstacle negotiation were perceived as higher.
• Unnecessary high reaches over clear space were perceived as lower (flattened).
• Explicit processing of environmental constraints amplified these perceptual biases.

Conclusions:

• Findings support the role of predictive processing in social perception, specifically the prediction of energy-efficient action trajectories.
• Perceptual biases in action interpretation are modulated by environmental context and cognitive processing.