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Can We Really "See" Through Others' Eyes? Evidence of Embodied Visual-Spatial Representation From an Altercentric
Nanbo Wang1,2, Shen Zhang3, Haiyan Geng1
1School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University.
Cognitive Science
|October 9, 2025
Summary
We can form visual mental representations of scenes from another's viewpoint during visual-spatial perspective taking (VSPT). These embodied representations are visual-spatial, not semantic, and aid social cognition.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Social Cognition
Background:
- Social interactions rely on understanding others' perspectives.
- Visual-spatial perspective taking (VSPT) research often focuses on mental transformation, less on subsequent visual processing.
- The extent of truly seeing from another's visual perspective is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the formation of mental representations of visual scenes from an adopted viewpoint.
- To determine if these representations are visual-spatial or semantic.
- To explore the role of embodied processing versus self-perspective strategies in VSPT.
Main Methods:
- Utilized modified visual-spatial perspective taking (VSPT) tasks.
- Paired avatar-perspective trials with self-perspective trials to observe priming effects.
- Conducted four experiments to test hypotheses regarding embodied representations.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated that explicit embodied VSPT creates robust, visual-spatial mental representations of the scene.
- Provided evidence that these representations stem from embodied processing, not self-perspective strategies.
- Found that individuals implicitly form weaker, distinct self-perspective representations during other-perspective tasks.
Conclusions:
- Confirmed the existence of embodied mental representations in visual-spatial perspective taking (VSPT).
- Highlighted the visual-spatial nature of these representations, distinct from semantic information.
- Offered insights into the cognitive mechanisms underlying the ability to adopt others' viewpoints.
Keywords:
Embodied processingImplicit primingOther‐perspective processingSelf‐perspective processingVisual‐spatial perspective takingVisual‐spatial representationMore Related Videos
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