The connection between action and perception

This thesis consists of three main studies that cover complementary aspects of action-to-perception transfer. In the recent decades, cognitive psychology has started a paradigm shift from its traditional approach to put the stimulus first and treat the action as response to a less one-directional view of perception and action. Quite trivially, action influences perception by changing the external world: we move objects, we locomote or we move our sensory organs. More crucially, action also influences perception internally. Study II and III will address this question directly, by studying perceptual effects of action on physically unchanged stimuli. Study I deals with biological motion. I will argue that the perception of biological motion may present a naturalistic example for direct action-to-perception transfer. The cues of animate locomotion are detected rapidly and effortlessly, and allow quick retrieval of detailed information about the actor, as we related to our immense experience with moving our own bodies in ways that correspond to the physical “laws” which the dynamics of these cues represent. In sum, the studies reported in this thesis provide novel insight on shared action-perception representations, their perceptual consequences and their relation to cognitive models of the world. In Study I, we showed that biological motion cues distort the perceived size of the actor’s figure: a biological motion stimulus is perceived larger than matched control stimuli and lets subsequent stimuli appear smaller. Provided the importance of biological motion, this is in line with other studies that relate subjective importance to perceived size – however, the connection with animate motion has not been reported earlier. If there are shared action-perception representations, do they operate on different representational levels? In Study II, we coupled a stimulus that was in competition with another to action more or less strongly. While the degree of action-perception coupling did not affect overt reports of stimulus’ visibility, oculomotor measures were modulated. This suggests different degrees of action perception coupling on different representational levels, with varying access to awareness. Does in turn the internal cognitive model of the world penetrate action perception coupling? In Study III, we showed that the effect of action-perception congruency on perceptual stability critically depends on the internal cognitive model of action perception coupling. Studies II and III together indicate that no single mechanism or representation can account for all action-perception findings. In the general discussion, I will consider the needed adjustments to current models as well as alternative theoretical approaches

Epigenetic modification of the oxytocin receptor gene is associated with emotion processing in the infant brain

The neural capacity to discriminate between emotions emerges early in development, though little is known about specific factors that contribute to variability in this vital skill during infancy. In adults, DNA methylation of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTRm) is an epigenetic modification that is variable, predictive of gene expression, and has been linked to autism spectrum disorder and the neural response to social cues. It is unknown whether OXTRm is variable in infants, and whether it is predictive of early social function. Implementing a developmental neuroimaging epigenetics approach in a large sample of infants (N = 98), we examined whether OXTRm is associated with neural responses to emotional expressions. OXTRm was assessed at 5 months of age. At 7 months of age, infants viewed happy, angry, and fearful faces while functional near-infrared spectroscopy was recorded. We observed that OXTRm shows considerable variability among infants. Critically, infants with higher OXTRm show enhanced responses to anger and fear and attenuated responses to happiness in right inferior frontal cortex, a region implicated in emotion processing through action-perception coupling. Findings support models emphasizing oxytocin's role in modulating neural response to emotion and identify OXTRm as an epigenetic mark contributing to early brain function

The coupling of action and perception in musical meaning formation

The embodied perspective on music cognition has stressed the central role of the body and body move- ments in musical meaning formation processes. In the present study, we investigate by means of a behavioral experiment how free body movements in response to music (i.e., action) can be linked to specific linguistic, metaphorical descriptions people use to describe the expressive qualities they perceive in the music (i.e., per- ception). We introduce a dimensional model based on the Effort/Shape theory of Laban in order to target musical expressivity from an embodied perspective. Also, we investigate whether a coupling between action and perception is dependent on the musical background of the participants (i.e., trained versus untrained). The results show that the physical appearance of the free body movements that participants perform in response to music are reliably linked to the linguistic descriptions of musical expressiveness in terms of the underlying quality. Moreover, this result is found to be independent of the participants’ musical background

Complementary actions

Complementary colors are color pairs which, when combined in the right proportions, produce white or black. Complementary actions refer here to forms of social interaction wherein individuals adapt their joint actions according to a common aim. Notably, complementary actions are incongruent actions. But being incongruent is not sufficient to be complementary (i.e., to complete the action of another person). Successful complementary interactions are founded on the abilities: (i) to simulate another person's movements, (ii) to predict another person's future action/s, (iii) to produce an appropriate incongruent response which differ, while interacting, with observed ones, and (iv) to complete the social interaction by integrating the predicted effects of one's own action with those of another person. This definition clearly alludes to the functional importance of complementary actions in the perception-action cycle and prompts us to scrutinize what is taking place behind the scenes. Preliminary data on this topic have been provided by recent cutting-edge studies utilizing different research methods. This mini-review aims to provide an up-to-date overview of the processes and the specific activations underlying complementary actions

Complementary Actions

Human beings come into the world wired for social interaction. At the fourteenth week of gestation, twin fetuses already display interactive movements specifically directed towards their co- twin. Readiness for social interaction is also clearly expressed by the newborn who imitate facial gestures, suggesting that there is a common representation mediating action observation and execution. While actions that are observed and those that are planned seem to be functionally equivalent, it is unclear if the visual representation of an observed action inevitably leads to its motor representation. This is particularly true with regard to complementary actions (from the Latin complementum ; i.e. that fills up), a specific class of movements which differ, while interacting, with observed ones. In geometry, angles are defined as complementary if they form a right angle. In art and design, complementary colors are color pairs that, when combined in the right proportions, produce white or black. As a working definition, complementary actions refer here to any form of social interaction wherein two (or more) individuals complete each other\u2019s actions in a balanced way. Successful complementary interactions are founded on the abilities:\ua0 (1)\ua0 to simulate another person\u2019s movements; (2)\ua0 to predict another person\u2019s future action/ s; (3)\ua0to produce an appropriate congruent/ incongruent response that completes the other person\u2019s action/ s; and (4)\ua0to integrate the predicted effects of one\u2019s own and another person\u2019s actions. It is the neurophysiological mechanism that underlies this process which forms the main theme of this chapte

Visuomotor resonance in autism spectrum disorders

When we observe the actions performed by others, our motor system “resonates” along with that of the observed agent. Is a similar visuomotor resonant response observed in autism spectrum disorders (ASD)? Studies investigating action observation in ASD have yielded inconsistent findings. In this perspective article we examine behavioral and neuroscientific evidence in favor of visuomotor resonance in ASD, and consider the possible role of action-perception coupling in social cognition. We distinguish between different aspects of visuomotor resonance and conclude that while some aspects may be preserved in ASD, abnormalities exist in the way individuals with ASD convert visual information from observed actions into a program for motor execution. Such abnormalities, we surmise, may contribute to but also depend on the difficulties that individuals with ASD encounter during social interaction

Human factors consideration in the interaction process with virtual environment

Newrequirements are needed by industry for computer aided design (CAD) data. Some techniques of CAD data management and the computer power unit capabilities enable an extraction of a virtual mock-up for an interactive use. CAD data may also be distributed and shared by different designers in various parts of the world (in the same company and with subcontractors). The use of digital mock-up is not limited to the mechanical design of the product but is dedicated to a maximum number of trades in industry. One of the main issues is to enable the evaluation of the product without any physical representation of the product but based on its virtual representation. In that objective, most of main actors in industry domain use virtual reality technologies. These technologies consist basically in enabling the designer to perceive the product in design process. This perception has to be rendered to guarantee that the evaluation process is done as in a real condition. The perception is the fruit of alchemy between the user and the VR technologies. Thus, in the experiment design, the whole system human-VR technology has to be considered

Neuro-cognitive and social components of dyadic motor interactions revealed by the kinematics of a joint-grasping task

This thesis describes a PhD project is based on the notion that we live our whole life dipped into an interactive social environment where we observe and act together with others and where our behavior is influenced by first sight impressions, social categorizations and stereotypes which automatically and unavoidably arise during interactions. Nevertheless, the bidirectional impact of interpersonal coding on dyadic motor interactions has never been directly investigated. Moreover, the neurocognitive bases of social interaction are still poorly understood. In particular, in every-day dyadic encounters we usually interact with others in non-imitative fashions (Sebanz et al. 2006), challenging the hypothesis of a direct matching between action observation and action execution within one system (“common coding approach”, Prinz 1997), which is instead supported by neurophysiological data on the so called “mirror neurons”(Rizzolatti and Sinigaglia 2010) which fire both during action execution and observation of similar actions performed by others. Suggestion is made that what characterizes joint action is the presence of a common goal (i.e. the “shared” goal, Butterfill 2012) which organizes individuals’ behaviour and channel simulative processes. During her PhD, Lucia Sacheli developed a novel interactive scenario able to investigate face-to-face dyadic interactions within a naturalistic and yet controlled experimental environment, with the aim to build a more coherent model of the role of simulative mechanisms during social interaction and on the role of socio-emotional variables in modulating these processes. This scenario required pairs of participants to reciprocally coordinate their reach-to-grasp movements and perform on-line mutual adjustments in time and space in order to fulfill a common (motor) goal. So far, she demonstrated by means of kinematic data analysis that simulation of the partner’s movement is task-dependent (Sacheli et al. 2013) and modulated by the interpersonal relationship linking co-agents (Sacheli et al. 2012) and by social stereotypes as ethnic biases (Sacheli et al. under review). Moreover, she used the same scenario to investigate the different contribution of the parietal and frontal nodes of the fronto-parietal “mirror” network during joint-action by means of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation combined with analysis of kinematics