When action conditions perception: Evidence of cross-modal cue recruitment.

Abstract

Goal-directed movement, such as reaching to touch an object, relies heavily on vision. Vision guides our motor system not only during initial targeting but also during online movement correction and error-driven learning. But it is not all one-way traffic. This paper reports a situation in which this perceptual-motor interaction runs in reverse, when action affects concurrent perceptual experience. More to the point, the paper reveals that visual perception is subject to change through learned (even arbitrary) visuomotor associations. By considering a situation in which the perceptual decision is dichotomous, this paper reveals that the brain readily harnesses motor behavior to constrain the formation of a visual percept.