Séminaire COSY: " Spacial cognition as an embodied process. "

Ce séminaire (invitation) se déroulera dans la salle Martin V (42B), de 12h30 à 13h30 sur le campus de Louvain-en-Woluwe (UCL) et s'inscrit dans le cadre du cycle de séminaires 2015-2016 organisé par le pôle COSY.

ABSTRACT : In the current literature, it is thought that the perception of reachability (i.e., whether an object is within reach) relies on body representations and action simulation (i.e., the automatic imagination of an action to the object). Perhaps similarly, it is thought that the perception of the distance an object is from the self is partly derived from embodied action simulation. Although the descriptions of these cognitive processes appear similar, it remains unclear whether the cognitive processes underlying the behaviours rely on the same embodied mechanism. To investigate this, we measured reachability judgment and distance estimation tasks in a series of experiments designed to moderate embodied cognition processes. We report three experiments using dual-task knockout action interference manipulation, action observation priming, and action distortion using virtual reality. The results showed that participant’s responses in both reachability and distance estimation were slowed down during hand action dual-task. Further, action observation and virtual reality action modification moderated perceived reachability and distance estimation. Change in perceived reaching capacity was negatively related to change in perceived distance. These results perhaps demonstrate that space cognition is hinged on a dynamic experience of perceived reaching capacity. We discuss the results relative to action simulation mechanisms and whether or not distance perception is an embodied process beneficiating from such mechanisms.