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Journal ArticleDOI

The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception

01 Jan 2012-Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly (Human Kinetics, Inc.)-Vol. 29, Iss: 1, pp 98-99
About: This article is published in Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly.The article was published on 2012-01-01. It has received 499 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Visual perception & Ecological psychology.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An ethologically-inspired view of interactive behavior as simultaneous processes that specify potential motor actions and select between them is discussed, and how recent neurophysiological data from diverse cortical and subcortical regions appear more compatible with this parallel view than with the classical view of serial information processing stages.
Abstract: The neural bases of behavior are often discussed in terms of perceptual, cognitive, and motor stages, defined within an information processing framework that was originally inspired by models of human abstract problem solving. Here, we review a growing body of neurophysiological data that is difficult to reconcile with this influential theoretical perspective. As an alternative foundation for interpreting neural data, we consider frameworks borrowed from ethology, which emphasize the kinds of real-time interactive behaviors that animals have engaged in for millions of years. In particular, we discuss an ethologically-inspired view of interactive behavior as simultaneous processes that specify potential motor actions and select between them. We review how recent neurophysiological data from diverse cortical and subcortical regions appear more compatible with this parallel view than with the classical view of serial information processing stages.

1,267 citations


Cites background from "The Ecological Approach to Visual P..."

  • ...In short, these phenomena are compatible with the notion of a fast dorsal specification system that quickly uses novel visual information to specify the potential actions most consistently associated with a given stimulus (Gibson 1979, Milner & Goodale 1995)....

    [...]

  • ...Instead, pragmatic processes that mediate sensorimotor interaction in the here and now, on the basis of continuous streams of sensory inputs as well as prior knowledge and experiences, are much more useful for guiding interactive behavior (Gibson 1979)....

    [...]

  • ...He defined the concept of affordances (Gibson 1979) as the opportunities for action that the environment presents to an animal....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper used fMRI to record brain activity from both speakers and listeners during natural verbal communication and found that the speaker's activity is spatially and temporally coupled with the listener's activity.
Abstract: Verbal communication is a joint activity; however, speech production and comprehension have primarily been analyzed as independent processes within the boundaries of individual brains. Here, we applied fMRI to record brain activity from both speakers and listeners during natural verbal communication. We used the speaker's spatiotemporal brain activity to model listeners' brain activity and found that the speaker's activity is spatially and temporally coupled with the listener's activity. This coupling vanishes when participants fail to communicate. Moreover, though on average the listener's brain activity mirrors the speaker's activity with a delay, we also find areas that exhibit predictive anticipatory responses. We connected the extent of neural coupling to a quantitative measure of story comprehension and find that the greater the anticipatory speaker-listener coupling, the greater the understanding. We argue that the observed alignment of production- and comprehension-based processes serves as a mechanism by which brains convey information.

740 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argue that the affordances an environment offers to an animal are dependent on the skills the animal possesses and that the landscape of affordances we inhabit as humans is very rich and resourceful.
Abstract: How broad is the class of affordances we can perceive? Affordances (Gibson, 1979/1986) are possibilities for action provided to an animal by the environment—by the substances, surfaces, objects, and other living creatures that surround it. A widespread assumption has been that affordances primarily relate to motor action—to locomotion and manual behaviors such as reaching and grasping. We propose an account of affordances according to which the concept of affordances has a much broader application than has hitherto been supposed. We argue that the affordances an environment offers to an animal are dependent on the skills the animal possesses. By virtue of our many abilities, the landscape of affordances we inhabit as humans is very rich and resourceful.

628 citations


Cites background from "The Ecological Approach to Visual P..."

  • ...Generalizing somewhat we can say that surfaces afford, for instance, locomotion and support, substances nutrition and manufacture, objects manipulation, other animals a variety of interactions, and other people afford “the whole spectrum of social significance” (Gibson, 1979/1986, pp. 127–128)....

    [...]

  • ...A Rich Landscape of Affordances Erik Rietveld Department of Philosophy, Institute for Logic, Language and Computation, and Academic Medical Center University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Julian Kiverstein Department of Philosophy and Institute for Logic, Language and Computation University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands How broad is the class of affordances we can perceive?...

    [...]

  • ...(Gibson, 1979/1986, p. 140) Given that all these value-rich affordances are publicly available, could we perhaps say that it is only our ignorance and lack of skill that limit our tapping into these potentially valuable resources for our practices?...

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  • ...The convenient and useful definition of affordances as possibilities for action obscures the complexity and richness of the concept we find at work in Gibson’s writings (see, e.g., Gibson, 1979/1986)....

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  • ...We may, for instance, “feel a special attraction” to the mailbox when we have to mail a letter (Gibson, 1979/1986, p. 139)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider what assemblage might offer a conception of the city and argue that it is particularly useful for conceiving the spatiality of a city as processual, relational, mobile, and unequal.
Abstract: In this paper I consider what ‘assemblage’ might offer a conception of the city. Although assemblage is gaining currency in geography and beyond, there has been little effort to consider how it might be conceptualised and what its specificity might be. In offering a conceptualisation of assemblage, I bring assemblage into conversation with particular debates around dwelling and argue, first, that assemblage provides a useful basis for thinking of the city as a dwelling process and, second, that it is particularly useful for conceiving the spatiality of the city as processual, relational, mobile, and unequal. Despite their distinct intellectual histories, I suggest there is a productive debate to be had by bringing assemblage and dwelling into dialogue. I examine some of the ways in which assemblage and dwelling might interact and reflect on particular moments of fieldwork conducted in Sao Paulo and Mumbai and on diverse examples ranging from ‘slum’ housing to urban policy and mobility.

457 citations


Cites background from "The Ecological Approach to Visual P..."

  • ...The ways in which we know, learn, and build the city is not a transmission of information, but what Ingold calls, after psychologist James Gibson, an education of attention (Gibson, 1979, page 254; Ingold, 2000, pages 166 ^ 167)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Design with Intent Method is illustrated via application to an everyday human-technology interaction problem: reducing the likelihood of a customer leaving his or her card in an automatic teller machine, demonstrating that the method has potential for development and application as part of a user-centred design process.

395 citations

References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An ethologically-inspired view of interactive behavior as simultaneous processes that specify potential motor actions and select between them is discussed, and how recent neurophysiological data from diverse cortical and subcortical regions appear more compatible with this parallel view than with the classical view of serial information processing stages.
Abstract: The neural bases of behavior are often discussed in terms of perceptual, cognitive, and motor stages, defined within an information processing framework that was originally inspired by models of human abstract problem solving. Here, we review a growing body of neurophysiological data that is difficult to reconcile with this influential theoretical perspective. As an alternative foundation for interpreting neural data, we consider frameworks borrowed from ethology, which emphasize the kinds of real-time interactive behaviors that animals have engaged in for millions of years. In particular, we discuss an ethologically-inspired view of interactive behavior as simultaneous processes that specify potential motor actions and select between them. We review how recent neurophysiological data from diverse cortical and subcortical regions appear more compatible with this parallel view than with the classical view of serial information processing stages.

1,267 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper used fMRI to record brain activity from both speakers and listeners during natural verbal communication and found that the speaker's activity is spatially and temporally coupled with the listener's activity.
Abstract: Verbal communication is a joint activity; however, speech production and comprehension have primarily been analyzed as independent processes within the boundaries of individual brains. Here, we applied fMRI to record brain activity from both speakers and listeners during natural verbal communication. We used the speaker's spatiotemporal brain activity to model listeners' brain activity and found that the speaker's activity is spatially and temporally coupled with the listener's activity. This coupling vanishes when participants fail to communicate. Moreover, though on average the listener's brain activity mirrors the speaker's activity with a delay, we also find areas that exhibit predictive anticipatory responses. We connected the extent of neural coupling to a quantitative measure of story comprehension and find that the greater the anticipatory speaker-listener coupling, the greater the understanding. We argue that the observed alignment of production- and comprehension-based processes serves as a mechanism by which brains convey information.

740 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argue that the affordances an environment offers to an animal are dependent on the skills the animal possesses and that the landscape of affordances we inhabit as humans is very rich and resourceful.
Abstract: How broad is the class of affordances we can perceive? Affordances (Gibson, 1979/1986) are possibilities for action provided to an animal by the environment—by the substances, surfaces, objects, and other living creatures that surround it. A widespread assumption has been that affordances primarily relate to motor action—to locomotion and manual behaviors such as reaching and grasping. We propose an account of affordances according to which the concept of affordances has a much broader application than has hitherto been supposed. We argue that the affordances an environment offers to an animal are dependent on the skills the animal possesses. By virtue of our many abilities, the landscape of affordances we inhabit as humans is very rich and resourceful.

628 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider what assemblage might offer a conception of the city and argue that it is particularly useful for conceiving the spatiality of a city as processual, relational, mobile, and unequal.
Abstract: In this paper I consider what ‘assemblage’ might offer a conception of the city. Although assemblage is gaining currency in geography and beyond, there has been little effort to consider how it might be conceptualised and what its specificity might be. In offering a conceptualisation of assemblage, I bring assemblage into conversation with particular debates around dwelling and argue, first, that assemblage provides a useful basis for thinking of the city as a dwelling process and, second, that it is particularly useful for conceiving the spatiality of the city as processual, relational, mobile, and unequal. Despite their distinct intellectual histories, I suggest there is a productive debate to be had by bringing assemblage and dwelling into dialogue. I examine some of the ways in which assemblage and dwelling might interact and reflect on particular moments of fieldwork conducted in Sao Paulo and Mumbai and on diverse examples ranging from ‘slum’ housing to urban policy and mobility.

457 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Design with Intent Method is illustrated via application to an everyday human-technology interaction problem: reducing the likelihood of a customer leaving his or her card in an automatic teller machine, demonstrating that the method has potential for development and application as part of a user-centred design process.

395 citations