How humans optimize their interaction with the environment: The impact of action context on human perception

Abstract

Humans have developed various mechanisms to optimize interaction with the environment. Optimization of action planning requires efficient selection of action-relevant features. Selection might also depend on the environmental context in which an action takes place. The present study investigated how action context influences perceptual processing in action planning. The experimental paradigm comprised two independent tasks: (1) a perceptual visual search task and (2) a grasping or a pointing movement. Reaction times in the visual search task were measured as a function of the movement type (grasping vs. pointing) and context complexity (context varying along one dimension vs. context varying along two dimensions). Results showed that action context influenced reaction times, which suggests a close bidirectional link between action and perception as well as an impact of environmental action context on perceptual selection in the course of action planning. Such findings are discussed in the context of application for robotics. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.