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Journal Article•DOI•

Manual matching of perceived surface orientation is affected by arm posture: evidence of calibration between proprioception and visual experience in near space

Zhi Li1, Frank H. Durgin1•
Swarthmore College1
01 Jan 2012-Experimental Brain Research (Springer-Verlag)-Vol. 216, Iss: 2, pp 299-309
TL;DR: Two claims are supported: (1) manual orientation matching to visual surfaces is based on manual proprioception and (2) calibration between visual and proprioceptive experiences guarantees relatively accurate manual matching for surfaces within reach, despite systematic visual biases in perceived surface orientation.
Abstract: Proprioception of hand orientation (orientation production using the hand) is compared with manual matching of visual orientation (visual surface matching using the hand) in two experiments. In experiment 1, using self-selected arm postures, the proportions of wrist and elbow flexion spontaneously used to orient the pitch of the hand (20 and 80%, respectively) are relatively similar across both manual matching tasks and manual orientation production tasks for most participants. Proprioceptive error closely matched perceptual biases previously reported for visual orientation perception, suggesting calibration of proprioception to visual biases. A minority of participants, who attempted to use primarily wrist flexion while holding the forearm horizontal, performed poorly at the manual matching task, consistent with proprioceptive error caused by biomechanical constraints of their self-selected posture. In experiment 2, postural choices were constrained to primarily wrist or elbow flexion without imposing biomechanical constraints (using a raised forearm). Identical relative offsets were found between the two constraint groups in manual matching and manual orientation production. The results support two claims: (1) manual orientation matching to visual surfaces is based on manual proprioception and (2) calibration between visual and proprioceptive experiences guarantees relatively accurate manual matching for surfaces within reach, despite systematic visual biases in perceived surface orientation.

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Citations
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Journal Article•DOI•
The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception

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Walter E. Davis
01 Jan 2012-Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly

499 citations

Journal Article•DOI•
The social psychology of perception experiments: hills, backpacks, glucose, and the problem of generalizability.

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Frank H. Durgin1, Brennan Klein1, Ariana Spiegel1, Cassandra J. Strawser1, Morgan Williams1 •
Swarthmore College1
19 Mar 2012-Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance
TL;DR: Three different assessments of experimental demand indicate that even when the physical environment is naturalistic, and the goal of the main experimental manipulation was primarily concealed, artificial aspects of the social environment may still be primarily responsible for altered judgments of hill orientation.
Abstract: Experiments take place in a physical environment but also a social environment. Generalizability from experimental manipulations to more typical contexts may be limited by violations of ecological validity with respect to either the physical or the social environment. A replication and extension of a recent study (a blood glucose manipulation) was conducted to investigate the effects of experimental demand (a social artifact) on participant behaviors judging the geographical slant of a large-scale outdoor hill. Three different assessments of experimental demand indicate that even when the physical environment is naturalistic, and the goal of the main experimental manipulation was primarily concealed, artificial aspects of the social environment (such as an explicit requirement to wear a heavy backpack while estimating the slant of a hill) may still be primarily responsible for altered judgments of hill orientation.

114 citations

Cites background or methods from "Manual matching of perceived surfac..."

  • ...We used a custom inclinometer (Li & Durgin, 2011a) to measure hand orientation relative to a horizontal baseline, using the central axis of the hand to represent the response (Durgin, Li & Hajnal, 2010)....

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  • ...Moreover, free hand measures also have been found to be tightly correlated with verbal measures (Li & Durgin, 2011a)....

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  • ...The gesture was conducted with the hand occluded behind a screen and was measured with a custom inclinometer (Li & Durgin, 2011a)....

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  • ...Li and Durgin (2011a) showed that free hand manual matching techniques were correlated with verbal reports (see also Li & Durgin, 2011b)....

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Journal Article•DOI•
On the anisotropy of perceived ground extents and the interpretation of walked distance as a measure of perception.

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Zhi Li1, Emily Sun, Cassandra J. Strawser, Ariana Spiegel, Brennan Klein, Frank H. Durgin •
Swarthmore College1
01 Apr 2013-Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance
TL;DR: It is concluded that walking measures are calibrated for perceived egocentric distance, but that pantomime walking measures may suffer range compression.
Abstract: Two experiments are reported concerning the perception of ground extent in order to discover whether prior reports of anisotropy between frontal extents and extents in depth were consistent across different measures (visual matching and pantomime walking) and test environments (outdoor environments and virtual environments). In Experiment 1 it was found that depth extents of up to 7 m are indeed perceptually compressed relative to frontal extents in an outdoor environment, and that perceptual matching provided more precise estimates than did pantomime walking. In Experiment 2, similar anisotropies were found using similar tasks in a similar (but virtual) environment. In both experiments pantomime walking measures seemed to additionally compress the range of responses. Experiment 3 supported the hypothesis that range compression in walking measures of perceived distance might be due to proactive interference (memory contamination). It is concluded that walking measures are calibrated for perceived egocentric distance, but that pantomime walking measures may suffer range compression. Depth extents along the ground are perceptually compressed relative to frontal ground extents in a manner consistent with the angular scale expansion hypothesis.

40 citations

Cites background or methods from "Manual matching of perceived surfac..."

  • ...…that perceived gaze angles are exaggerated and that perceived egocentric distances are foreshortened, as we have mentioned above, there is no actual contradiction because action can be calibrated to visual experience (Harris, 1963; Held & Freedman, 1965; Li & Durgin, 2012b; Rieser et al., 1995)....

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  • ...Note, in contrast, that if an L-shape configuration (1.5 m x 1.5 m) were placed on the ground 9 m away, and the direct comparison of the frontal and depth legs were requested, participants might tend to switch to a judgment based on estimating the optical slant (Li & Durgin, 2012a)....

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  • ...The angular expansion hypothesis has been successfully applied to findings regarding the perception of egocentric extents, vertical extents and slant whereas other theories tend to have a more limited scope (see Li & Durgin, 2012a)....

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  • ...One, associated with shape tasks such as the aspect ratio task developed by Loomis et al. (1992), is quite a large anisotropy that seems to be related to the misperception of local optical slant (Li & Durgin, 2010, 2012a; Loomis & Philbeck, 1999; Loomis et al., 2002)....

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  • ...…hypothesis The angular expansion hypothesis is based on evidence that two angular variables, optical slant and the gaze declination, are perceptually exaggerated in the range most relevant in action space (Durgin and Li, 2011; Durgin et al., 2010; Li and Durgin, 2009, 2010, 2012a; Li et al., 2011)....

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Journal Article•DOI•
A comparison of two theories of perceived distance on the ground plane: The angular expansion hypothesis and the intrinsic bias hypothesis

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Zhi Li1, Frank H. Durgin1•
Swarthmore College1
01 Jan 2012-I-perception
TL;DR: While the intrinsic bias hypothesis is proposed only for explaining distance biases, the angular expansion hypothesis provides accounts for a broader range of spatial biases.
Abstract: Two theories of distance perception—ie, the angular expansion hypothesis (Durgin and Li, 2011 Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 73 1856-1870) and the intrinsic bias hypothesis (Ooi et al, 2006 Perception 35 605-624)—are compared. Both theories attribute exocentric distance foreshortening to an exaggeration in perceived slant, but their fundamental geometrical assumptions are very different. The intrinsic bias hypothesis assumes a constant bias in perceived geographical slant of the ground plane and predicts both perceived egocentric and exocentric distances are increasingly compressed. In contrast, the angular expansion hypothesis assumes exaggerations in perceived gaze angle and perceived optical slant. Because the bias functions of the two angular variables are different, it allows the angular expansion hypothesis to distinguish two types of distance foreshortening—the linear compression in perceived egocentric distance and the nonlinear compres- sion in perceived exocentric distance. While the intrinsic bias is proposed only for explaining distance biases, the angular expansion hypothesis provides accounts for a broader range of spatial biases.

35 citations

Why Do Hills Look So Steep

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Frank H. Durgin, Zhi Li
01 Jan 2017
TL;DR: This chapter reviews current knowledge of the phenomenology of slant misperception in relation to both functionalist and mechanistic accounts of this perceptual bias with respect to not only slant, but also other angular variables relevant to the biological measurement of surface layout.
Abstract: Hills look much steeper than they are. This chapter reviews current knowledge of the phenomenology of slant misperception in relation to both functionalist and mechanistic accounts of this perceptual bias. Recent discoveries suggest that this misperception of the geometry of our environment may be related to useful biological information coding strategies with respect to not only slant, but also other angular variables relevant to the biological measurement of surface layout. Even in the absence of hills, people misperceive the direction of their gaze systematically in ways that seem to contribute to the vertical expansion of the perceived environment.

20 citations

References
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Journal Article•DOI•
Planning reaches by evaluating stored postures.

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David A. Rosenbaum1, Loukia D. Loukopoulos, Ruud G. J. Meulenbroek, Jonathan Vaughan, Sascha E. Engelbrecht •
University of Massachusetts Amherst1
01 Jan 1995-Psychological Review
TL;DR: A theory of the computations underlying the selection of coordinated motion patterns, especially in reaching tasks, is described, that when a spatial target is selected as an object to be reached, stored postures are evaluated for the contributions they can make to the task.
Abstract: This article describes a theory of the computations underlying the selection of coordinated motion patterns, especially in reaching tasks. The central idea is that when a spatial target is selected as an object to be reached, stored postures are evaluated for the contributions they can make to the task. Weights are assigned to the stored postures, and a single target posture is found by taking a weighted sum of the stored postures. Movement is achieved by reducing the distance between the starting angle and target angle of each joint. The model explains compensation for reduced joint mobility, tool use, practice effects, performance errors, and aspects of movement kinematics. Extensions of the model can account for anticipation and coarticulation effects, movement through via points, and hierarchical control of series of movements.

360 citations

Journal Article•DOI•
Plasticity in human sensorimotor control.

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Richard Held, Sanford J. Freedman
25 Oct 1963-Science
TL;DR: Disorder in the motor-sensory loop causes instability in human plastic systems of coordination and this research aims to address this problem.
Abstract: Disorder in the motor-sensory loop causes instability in human plastic systems of coordination

346 citations

"Manual matching of perceived surfac..." refers background in this paper

  • ...the opposite direction was evident when the prism was removed (von Helmholtz 1867; see also Harris 1963; Held and Freedman 1965)....

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  • ...…that ballistic reaching errors induced by looking through a wedge prism were quickly eliminated with repeated efforts at reaching for objects, and that an error in the opposite direction was evident when the prism was removed (von Helmholtz 1867; see also Harris 1963; Held and Freedman 1965)....

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Journal Article•DOI•
Adaptation to displaced vision: visual, motor, or proprioceptive change?

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Charles S. Harris1•
Harvard University1
17 May 1963-Science
TL;DR: After seeing his hand through wedge prisms, a subject points incorrectly with that hand at auditory as well as visual targets, and the other hand is virtually unaffected, so the change cannot be solely visuo-motor or visual.
Abstract: After seeing his hand through wedge prisms, a subject points incorrectly with that hand at auditory as well as visual targets. The other hand is virtually unaffected. Thus the change cannot be solely visuo-motor or visual. Other evidence suggests that it is a change in felt hand location, rather than motor learning. When the subject's adapted hand feels as if it is pointing straight ahead, for example, it is actually pointing off to one side.

333 citations

"Manual matching of perceived surfac..." refers background in this paper

  • ...…that ballistic reaching errors induced by looking through a wedge prism were quickly eliminated with repeated efforts at reaching for objects, and that an error in the opposite direction was evident when the prism was removed (von Helmholtz 1867; see also Harris 1963; Held and Freedman 1965)....

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Journal Article•DOI•
Moving effortlessly in three dimensions: does Donders' law apply to arm movement?

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John F. Soechting1, Christopher A. Buneo1, Uta Herrmann1, Martha Flanders•
University of Minnesota1
01 Sep 1995-The Journal of Neuroscience
TL;DR: It was found that, in general, the posture of the arm at a given hand location does depend on the starting location of the movement and that Donders' law is violated in this experimental condition.
Abstract: Donders' law, as applied to the arm, predicts that to every location of the hand in space there corresponds a unique posture of the arm as defined by shoulder and elbow angles. This prediction was tested experimentally by asking human subjects to make pointing movements to a select number of target locations starting from a wide range of initial hand locations. The posture of the arm was measured at the start and end of every movement by means of video cameras. It was found that, in general, the posture of the arm at a given hand location does depend on the starting location of the movement and that, consequently, Donders' law is violated in this experimental condition. Kinematic and kinetic factors that could account for the variations in arm posture were investigated. It proved impossible to predict the final posture of the arm purely from kinematics, based on the initial posture of the arm. One hypothesis was successful in predicting final arm postures, namely that the final posture minimizes the amount of work that must be done to transport the arm from the starting location.

319 citations

"Manual matching of perceived surfac..." refers background in this paper

  • ...(Cruse 1986; Soechting et al. 1995; Rosenbaum et al. 1995), because elbow movements are associated with higher costs than wrist movements (Soechting et al....

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  • ...…been proposed to account for the choice of the end arm posture in hand movements, such as the idea of minimizing total energetic costs (Cruse 1986; Soechting et al. 1995; Rosenbaum et al. 1995), the idea of avoiding extreme joint angles (Cruse and Bruwer 1987), and the idea of minimizing…...

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  • ...N IH -PA Author M anuscript N IH -PA Author M anuscript N IH -PA Author M anuscript Soechting et al. 1995; Rosenbaum et al. 1995) because elbow movements are associated with higher costs than wrist movements (Soechting et al. 1995; Wang 1999)....

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  • ...minimizing total energetic costs (Cruse 1986; Soechting et al. 1995; Rosenbaum et al. 1995), the idea of avoiding extreme joint angles (Cruse and Bruwer 1987), and the idea of minimizing position–signal variability (Rossetti et al....

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Journal Article•DOI•
Constraints for joint angle control of the human arm

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Holk Cruse
01 Jun 1986-Biological Cybernetics
TL;DR: A model calculation using a simple form of constraint is found to describe the experimental results: a cost function is applied to each joint and the constraint consists in minimizing the sum of the costs of all three joints.
Abstract: The targeting movements of a human arm were examined when restricted to a horizontal plane. The three joints at shoulder, elbow, and wrist are allowed to move. Thus, the system is redundant and needs constraints. A model calculation using a simple form of constraint is found to describe the experimental results: a cost function is applied to each joint. The constraint consists in minimizing the sum of the costs of all three joints. The cost functions might be interpreted as to describing the energy cost necessary to move the joint and/or represent a mechanism which avoids singularities.

216 citations

"Manual matching of perceived surfac..." refers background in this paper

  • ...The fact that elbow flexion contributed more than wrist flexion, however, seems contrary to the idea of minimizing the energetic costs (Cruse 1986; Exp Brain Res....

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  • ...(Cruse 1986; Soechting et al. 1995; Rosenbaum et al. 1995), because elbow movements are associated with higher costs than wrist movements (Soechting et al....

    [...]

  • ...minimizing total energetic costs (Cruse 1986; Soechting et al. 1995; Rosenbaum et al. 1995), the idea of avoiding extreme joint angles (Cruse and Bruwer 1987), and the idea of minimizing position–signal variability (Rossetti et al....

    [...]

  • ...…have been proposed to account for the choice of the end arm posture in hand movements, such as the idea of minimizing total energetic costs (Cruse 1986; Soechting et al. 1995; Rosenbaum et al. 1995), the idea of avoiding extreme joint angles (Cruse and Bruwer 1987), and the idea of…...

    [...]

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