Abstract
This paper focuses on the topic of human cognitive architecture in the context of links between action and perception. Results from behavioural studies, neuro-imaging, human electrophysiology as well as single-cell studies in monkeys are discussed. These data as well as theoretical background are brought forward to argue that a close connection between action and perception should be considered in designs of artificial systems. Examples of such systems are described and the application of those approaches to robotics is stressed.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Clark A (1999) An embodied cognitive science? Trends Cogn Sci 3:345–351
Stein L (1994) Imagination and situated cognition. J Exp Theor Artif Intell 6:393–407
Matarić M (1992) Integration of representation into goal-driven behavior based robots. IEEE J Robot Autom 8:304–312
Greenwald A (1970) Sensory feedback mechanisms in performance control: with special reference to the ideomotor mechanism. Psychol Rev 77:73–99
Hommel B, Müsseler J, Aschersleben G, Prinz W (2001) The Theory of Event Coding (TEC): a framework for perception and action planning. Behav Brain Sci 24:849–937
Prinz W (1997) Perception and action planning. Eur J Cogn Psychol 9:129–154
Harless E (1861) Der Apparat des Willens [The apparatus of will]. Z Philos Philos Krit 38:50–73
Wolpert DM, Ghahramani Z (2000) Computational principles of movement neuroscience. Nat Neurosci 3:1212–1217
Greenwald AG (1970) A choice reaction time test of ideomotor theory. J Exp Psychol 86:20–26
Elsner B, Hommel B (2001) Effect anticipation and action control. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 27:229–240
Hommel B (2010) Grounding attention in action control: the intentional control of selection. In: Bruya BJ (ed) Effortless attention: a new perspective in the cognitive science of attention and action. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 121–140
Hommel B (1998) Event files: evidence for automatic integration of stimulus-response episodes. Vis Cogn 5:183–216
Müsseler J, Hommel B (1997) Blindness to response-compatible stimuli. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 23:861–872
Zwickel J, Grosjean J, Prinz W (2008) A contrast effect between the concurrent production and perception of movement directions. Vis Cogn 26:953–978
Schubotz RI, von Cramon DY (2002) Predicting perceptual events activates corresponding motor schemes in lateral premotor cortex: an fMRI study. NeuroImage 15:787–796
Allport A (1987) Selection for action: some behavioral and neurophysiological considerations of attention and action. In: Heuer H, Sanders AF (eds) Perspectives on perception and action. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, pp 395–419
Rizzolatti G, Riggio L, Sheliga BM (1994) Space and selective attention. In: Umiltà C, Moscovitch M (eds) Attention and performance, XV. Conscious and nonconscious information processing. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 231–265
Deubel H, Schneider WX (1996) Saccade target selection and object recognition: evidence for a common attentional mechanism. Vis Res 36:1827–1837
Desimone R, Duncan J (1995) Neural mechanisms of selective visual attention. Annu Rev Neurosci 18:193–222
Wolfe JM (1994) Guided Search 2.0: a revised model of visual search. Psychon Bull Rev 1:202–238
Moran J, Desimone R (1985) Selective attention gates visual processing in the extrastriate cortex. Science 229:782–784
Reynolds JH, Chelazzi L, Desimone R (1999) Competitive mechanism subserve attention in macaque areas V2 and V4. J Neurosci 19:1736–1753
Craighero L, Fadiga L, Rizzolatti G, Umiltà CA (1999) Action for perception: a motor-visual attentional effect. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 25:1673–1692
Fagioli S, Hommel B, Schubotz RI (2007) Intentional control of attention: action planning primes action related stimulus dimensions. Psychol Res 71:22–29
Wykowska A, Schubö A, Hommel B (2009) How you move is what you see: action planning biases selection in visual search. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 3:1755–1769
Wykowska A, Hommel B, Schubö A (2011) Action-induced effects on perception depend neither on element-level nor on set-level similarity between stimulus and response sets. Atten Percept Psychophys 73:1034–1041
Gibson EJ (1977) The theory of affordances. In: Shaw RE, Bransford J (eds) Perceiving, acting and knowing. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, pp 127–143
Humphreys GW, Riddoch MJ (2001) Detection by action: neuropsychological evidence for action-defined templates in search. Nat Neurosci 4:84–89
Tucker R, Ellis M (2001) The potentiation of grasp types during visual object categorization. Vis Cogn 8:769–800
Grèzes J, Decety J (2002) Does visual perception of object afford action? Evidence from a neuroimaging study. Neuropsychologia 40:212–222
Grafton ST, Fadiga L, Arbib MA, Rizzolatti G (1997) Premotor cortex activation during observation and naming of familiar tools. NeuroImage 6:231–236
Murata A, Fadiga L, Fogassi L, Gallese V, Raos V, Rizzolatti G (1997) Object representation in the ventral premotor cortex (area F5) of the monkey. J Neurophysiol 78:2226–2230
Gallese V, Fadiga L, Fogassi L, Rizzolatti G (1996) Action recognition in the premotor cortex. Brain 119:593–609
Kohler E, Keysers C, Umilta MA, Fogassi L, Gallese V, Rizzolatti G (2002) Hearing sounds, understanding actions: action representation in mirror neurons. Science 297:846–848
Umiltà MA, Kohler E, Gallese V, Fogassi L, Fadiga L et al (2001) “I know what you are doing”: a neurophysiological study. Neuron 32:91–101
Rizzolatti G, Craighero L (2004) The mirror-neuron system. Annu Rev Neurosci 27:169–192
Cochin S, Barthelemy C, Lejeune B, Roux S, Martineau J (1998) Perception of motion and EEG activity in human adults. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 107:287–295
Buccino G, Binkofski F, Fink GR, Fadiga L, Fogassi L et al (2001) Action observation activates premotor and parietal areas in a somatotopic manner: an fMRI study. Eur J Neurosci 13:400–404
Arbib MA (2002) Beyond the mirror system: imitation and evolution of language. In: Dautenhan K, Nehaniv C (eds) Imitation in animals and artifacts. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 229–280
Meister IG, Boroojerdi B, Foltys H, Sparing R, Huber W, Topper R (2003) Motor cortex hand area and speech: implications for the development of language. Neuropsychologia 41:401–406
Schütz-Bosbach S, Prinz W (2007) Perceptual resonance: action-induced modulation of perception. Trends Cogn Sci 11:349–355
Hamilton A, Wolpert D, Frith U (2004) Your own action influences how you perceive another person’s action. Curr Biol 14:493–498
Repp BH, Knoblich G (2007) Action can affect auditory perception. Psychol Sci 18:6–7
Wykowska A, Maldonado A, Beetz M, Schubö A (2011) How humans optimize their interaction with the environment: the impact of action context on human perception. Int J Soc Robot 3:223–231
Metta G, Sandini G, Natale L, Craighero L, Fadiga L (2006) Understanding mirror-neurons. A bio-robotic approach. Interact Stud 7:197–231
Billard A, Matarić MJ (2001) Learning human arm movements by imitation: evaluation of a biologically inspired connectionist architecture. Robot Auton Syst 37:145–160
Matarić MJ (2002) Sensory-motor primitives as a basis for imitation: linking perception to action and biology to robotics. In: Dautenhan K, Nehaniv C (eds) Imitation in animals and artifacts. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 392–422
Breazeal C, Buchsbaum D, Gray J, Gatenby D, Blumberg B (2005) Learning from and about others: towards using imitation to bootstrap the social understanding of others by robots. Artif Life 11:1–32
Coradeschi S, Ishiguro H, Asada M, Shapiro SC, Thielscher M, Breazeal C, Matarić MJ, Ishida H (2006) Human-inspired robots. IEEE Intell Syst 21(4):74–85
Cabibihan JJ, So WC, Nazar M, Ge SS (2009) Pointing gestures for a robot mediated communication interface. In: Xie M et al (eds) ICIRA 2009. LNAI, vol 5928, pp 67–77
Viviani P, Stucchi N (1992) Biological movements look uniform: evidence of motor-perceptual interactions. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 18:603–623
Knoblich G, Flach R (2001) Predicting the effects of actions: interactions of perception and action. Psychol Sci 12:467–472
Calvo-Merino B, Glaser DE, Grèzes J, Passingham RE, Haggard P (2005) Action observation and acquired motor skills: an fMRI study with expert dancers. Cereb Cortex 15:1243–1249
Calvo-Merino B, Glaser DE, Grèzes J, Passingham RE, Haggard P (2006) Seeing or doing? Influence of visual and motor familiarity in action observation. Curr Biol 16:1–6
Bosbach S, Cole J, Prinz W, Knoblich G (2005) Inferring another’s expectation from action: the role of peripheral sensation. Nat Neurosci 8:1295–1297
Mori M (1970) Bukimi no tani. The uncanny valley. Energy 7:33–35. (Originally in Japanese, trans. MacDorman KF, Minato T)
Otzop E, Franklin DW, Chaminade T, Cheng G (2005) Human-humanoid interactions: is humanoid robot perceived as human? Int J Humanoid Robot 2:537–559
Kilner JM, Paulignan Y, Blakemore SJ (2003) An interference effect of observed biological movement on action. Curr Biol 13:522–525
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wykowska, A., Schubö, A. Perception and Action as Two Sides of the Same Coin. A Review of the Importance of Action-Perception Links in Humans for Social Robot Design and Research. Int J of Soc Robotics 4, 5–14 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-011-0127-6
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-011-0127-6