Interactions between the dorsal and ventral streams of visual processing.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Animals↗
Biomedical subjects
Angela M Haffenden
Publications and source records attributed to Angela M Haffenden.
Learned perceptual associations influence visuomotor programming under limited conditions: cues as surface patterns.
The present set of three experiments was designed to extend the findings that visuomotor programming can make use of learned size information under some, but not all, conditions. An association was established between the size of square wooden blocks and a perceptual cue in all experiments. In Experiment 1 the perceptual cue to size was a small two-dimensional drawing of a shape affixed to the top of the blocks (e.g. triangle = large; circle = small, or vice versa). In Experiment 2 size and shape were again associated but this time a pattern of two-dimensional shapes covered the visible surface of the blocks. In Experiment 3 block size was associated with the colour of a small circle affixed to the top of the blocks (e.g. red = large; yellow = small, or vice versa). All of the subjects grasped the blocks, and on other trials estimated the size of the blocks by opening their thumb and finger a matching amount. Consistent with previous reports, in all experiments, the learned associations changed the perceived size of two test blocks halfway in size between the large and small blocks: estimations of the test block matched by shape or colour to the group of large objects were smaller than estimations of the test block matched to the group of small objects. The effect appears to result from relative-size comparisons being made between the medium-sized test blocks and the size category (large or small) associated with the matching shape or colour cue. Despite the significant effect of the learned perceptual associations on manual estimations, no effect on grip scaling was seen when the cues associated with size were single small elements centred on the top of the block (Experiment 1 and Experiment 3). Changes in grip scaling corresponded to the change in perceived size only when the cue to size covered the entire block (Experiment 2), forming a surface pattern. These findings suggest that visuomotor programming is more likely to use learned size information when the cue providing the size association covers the visible surface of the target objects, perhaps by acting as a texture that provides reliable information about the target's material and identity.
Association Learning↗
Learned perceptual associations influence visuomotor programming under limited conditions: kinematic consistency.
Previous findings have suggested that visuomotor programming can make use of learned size information in experimental paradigms where movement kinematics are quite consistent from trial to trial. The present experiment was designed to test whether or not this conclusion could be generalized to a different manipulation of kinematic variability. As in previous work, an association was established between the size and colour of square blocks (e.g. red = large; yellow = small, or vice versa). Associating size and colour in this fashion has been shown to reliably alter the perceived size of two test blocks halfway in size between the large and small blocks: estimations of the test block matched in colour to the group of large blocks are smaller than estimations of the test block matched to the group of small blocks. Subjects grasped the blocks, and on other trials estimated the size of the blocks. These changes in perceived block size were incorporated into grip scaling only when movement kinematics were highly consistent from trial to trial; that is, when the blocks were presented in the same location on each trial. When the blocks were presented in different locations grip scaling remained true to the metrics of the test blocks despite the changes in perceptual estimates of block size. These results support previous findings suggesting that kinematic consistency facilitates the incorporation of learned perceptual information into grip scaling.
Association Learning↗
A temporal analysis of grasping in the Ebbinghaus illusion: planning versus online control.
Recent work has shown that pictorial illusions have a greater effect on perceptual judgements than they do on the visual control of actions, such as object-directed grasping. This dissociation between vision for perception and vision for action is thought to reflect the operation of two separate streams of visual processing in the brain. Glover and Dixon claim, however, that perceptual illusions can influence the control of grasping but that these effects are evident only at early stages of the movement. By the time the action nears its completion any effect of illusions disappears. Glover and Dixon suggest that these results are consistent with what they call a 'planning and control' model of action, in which actions are planned using a context-dependent visual representation but are monitored and corrected online using a context-independent representation. We reanalysed data from an earlier experiment on grasping in the Ebbinghaus illusion in which we showed that maximum grip aperture was unaffected by this size-contrast illusion. When we looked at these data more closely, we found no evidence for an effect of the illusion even at the earliest stages of the movement. These findings support the suggestion that the initial planning of a simple object-directed grasping movement in this illusory context is indeed refractory to the effects of the illusion. This is not to suggest that more deliberate and/or complex movements could not be influenced by contextual information.
Adult↗