A Perception — Action Perspective on the Development of Manual Movements

This chapter introduces the “Capabilities” section of the Handbook of Living Machines. Where the previous section considered building blocks, we recognize that components or modules do not automatically make systems. Hence, in the remainder of this handbook, the emphasis is toward the capabilities of living systems and their emulation in artifacts. Capabilities often arise from the integration of multiple components and thus sensitize us to the need to develop a system-level perspective on living machines. Here we summarize and consider the 14 contributions in this section which cover perception, action, cognition, communication, and emotion, and the integration of these through cognitive architectures into systems that can emulate the full gamut of integrated behaviors seen in animals including, potentially, our own capacity for consciousness.

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Perception-action map learning in controlled multiscroll systems applied to robot navigation

Chaos An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science ◽

10.1063/1.3005783 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

pp. 043119 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Paolo Arena ◽

Sebastiano De Fiore ◽

Luigi Fortuna ◽

Luca Patané

Keyword(s):

Robot Navigation ◽

Map Learning ◽

Perception Action

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Somatosensory perception–action binding in Tourette syndrome

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-92761-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Julia Friedrich ◽

Henriette Spaleck ◽

Ronja Schappert ◽

Maximilian Kleimaker ◽

Julius Verrel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Neurodevelopmental Disorder ◽

Main Hypothesis ◽

Stimulus Response ◽

Cognitive Framework ◽

Tactile Stimuli ◽

Stimulus Saliency ◽

Somatosensory Stimulus ◽

Visual Domain ◽

External Stimuli ◽

Perception Action

AbstractIt is a common phenomenon that somatosensory sensations can trigger actions to alleviate experienced tension. Such “urges” are particularly relevant in patients with Gilles de la Tourette (GTS) syndrome since they often precede tics, the cardinal feature of this common neurodevelopmental disorder. Altered sensorimotor integration processes in GTS as well as evidence for increased binding of stimulus- and response-related features (“hyper-binding”) in the visual domain suggest enhanced perception–action binding also in the somatosensory modality. In the current study, the Theory of Event Coding (TEC) was used as an overarching cognitive framework to examine somatosensory-motor binding. For this purpose, a somatosensory-motor version of a task measuring stimulus–response binding (S-R task) was tested using electro-tactile stimuli. Contrary to the main hypothesis, there were no group differences in binding effects between GTS patients and healthy controls in the somatosensory-motor paradigm. Behavioral data did not indicate differences in binding between examined groups. These data can be interpreted such that a compensatory “downregulation” of increased somatosensory stimulus saliency, e.g., due to the occurrence of somatosensory urges and hypersensitivity to external stimuli, results in reduced binding with associated motor output, which brings binding to a “normal” level. Therefore, “hyper-binding” in GTS seems to be modality-specific.

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Disrupting the Flow of Perception-Action through Design

Adaptive Behavior ◽

10.1177/1059712321989099 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 105971232198909

Author(s):

Harry Heft

Keyword(s):

Cultural History ◽

Health Effects ◽

Sense Of Place ◽

Attentional Focus ◽

Good Design ◽

Adverse Health Effects ◽

Adverse Health ◽

Directed Action ◽

Perception Action

It is usually a mark of good design when technologies and tools that mediate goal-directed action are such that the user’s attentional focus is maintained on the intended ends of action rather than on the technologies and tools themselves. When the mediators become the focus, the continuity of goal-directed action is disrupted, and the flow of action can be re-directed. What then is the purpose of the projects designed by the RAAAF studio, as described by Rietveld, which seem to be intended to do both? Disruption of the continuity of goal-directed perception-action may prompt reflection about the circumstances at work, and in so doing provoke a transformation in habitual patterns of action and of thought. The project “The End of Sitting” is intended to remediate the adverse health effects of standard chair-dominated offices through an unconventional office landscape that prompts intermittent postural readjustments, boosting the levels of activity common in such settings. The project “Bunker 599” demonstrates that seemingly unremarkable features of the landscape can sometimes conceal aspects of culture’s history, and that design can function to draw attention to a hidden and even vanishing history. Design can enrich an individual’s sense of place in a stream of cultural history.

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It’s Time to Change Direction on Agility Research: a Call to Action

Sports Medicine - Open ◽

10.1186/s40798-021-00304-y ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Warren Young ◽

Russell Rayner ◽

Scott Talpey

Keyword(s):

Ecological Validity ◽

Primary Outcome Measure ◽

Future Research ◽

Call To Action ◽

Change Of Direction ◽

Movement Component ◽

Research Questions ◽

Action Coupling ◽

Perception Action ◽

Opinion Article

AbstractAgility is an important skill for both attackers and defenders in invasion sports such as codes of football. On the sporting field, agility requires reacting to a stimulus, often presented by an opponent’s movement, before a change of direction or speed. There is a plethora of research that examines the movement component of agility in isolation, which is described as change-of-direction (COD) ability, and this is thought to underpin agility performance. This opinion article proposes that COD ability should not be researched as the only or primary outcome measure when the objective is to inform agility performance in invasion sports. It is argued that pre-planned COD movements and tests lack ecological validity because they lack perception-action coupling and involve movement out of context from the game. The movement techniques and strength qualities required for the performance of COD tests can be quite different to those required for agility. It is suggested that COD tests can be applied to sports that involve pre-planned COD movements, but researchers should endeavour to use agility tests when studying invasion sports. Some new methods for assessing one-on-one agility contests are reported as potentially valuable for future research, and examples of research questions are provided.

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