Perceptual motion: expectancies in movement perception and action

There is growing evidence that action and perception are intimately linked and that when we observe an action we use the repertoire of motor representations used to produce the same action. We contend that to explain the processes that underpin motor perception and action theoretical ap-proaches and tools are required that create controlled and graded differentiation between them. In the experiment reported here, we use an established and reliable protocol from human timing and expectancy research with the inten-tion of yielding graded differences between the extremes of perception and action. Synchronization protocols involve the presentation of temporal patterns that set up event ex-pectancies (Barnes & Jones, 2000; Large & Jones, 1999). For example, a test stimulus is presented that occurs at th