Abstract
Observers segment ongoing activity into meaningful events. Segmentation is a core component of perception that helps determine memory and guide planning. The current study tested the hypotheses that event segmentation is an automatic component of the perception of extended naturalistic activity, and that the identification of event boundaries in such activities results in part from processing changes in the perceived situation. Observers may identify boundaries between events as a result of processing changes in the observed situation. To test this hypothesis and study this potential mechanism, we measured brain activity while participants viewed an extended narrative film. Large transient responses were observed when the activity was segmented, and these responses were mediated by changes in the observed activity, including characters and their interactions, interactions with objects, spatial location, goals, and causes. These results support accounts that propose event segmentation is automatic and depends on processing meaningful changes in the perceived situation; they are the first to show such effects for extended naturalistic human activity.
Highlights
Segmentation is a fundamental component of perception that plays a critical role in understanding
Segmentation The results of the behavioral segmentation task are described in detail in the Appendix
The primary results were: Viewers were able to follow the instructions to modulate their grain of segmentation, and fine units clustered hierarchically into coarse units
Summary
Segmentation is a fundamental component of perception that plays a critical role in understanding. Suppose you visit a busy produce market. You will need to segment the dynamic scene into spatial parts – stalls, people, fruits and vegetables, carts. You will need to segment the ongoing activity into temporal parts – parking your car, chatting with a neighbor, buying tomatoes. Activity is merely a “blooming, buzzing confusion” 488), recognition of objects and actions is difficult (Biederman, 1987), and planning breaks down (Spector and Grafman, 1994). This article focuses on the segmentation of experience in time
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