Taking into consideration explanations of perception-action interactions that may be “less dramatic, but more reflective of what happens in the real world”

Abstract

Bruce Bridgeman and colleagues reported the first experiments providing evidence of two functionally distinct visual-processing systems. We summarize that work and subsequent research that resulted in modifications of this view. Then, we describe studies of stimulus-response correspondence effects that provide evidence for distinct representations of responses. More recently, Bridgeman and colleagues examined whether "action affects perception", concluding that the phenomena can be more accurately construed as "information affects memory". Although unconvinced about claims of action-affects-perception and embodied cognition, Bridgeman and colleagues concluded that processing of visual information in hand-space is facilitated and cited a phenomenon as supporting evidence. We discuss findings indicating that this phenomenon is due to general spatial coding principles. We think that all researchers should proceed in the manner of Bridgeman of developing novel explanations, devising critical tests between them and alternative possible explanations, and accepting the explanation that best conforms to the results, even if that explanation is a "less dramatic" option.