The Influence of Perceptual-Motor Experience on Skill-Relevant Action Capabilities

The role of perceptual-motor experience in affordance perception is fundamental in understanding the reciprocity of perception and action and their relevance to cognition. An experiment investigating perception of the maximum height to which actors could reach, jump to reach, and sit was conducted. The role of perceptual-motor experience was investigated by evaluating the performance of basketball players and non-basketball players. Reaching, reaching-with-jump and sitting height estimates were compared to the actual action capabilities. Basketball players more accurately perceived a skill-relevant affordance (maximum height another could reach by jumping) than non-basketball players, but perceived a non-skill-relevant affordance (the maximum height of a surface upon which one could sit) with the same accuracy as non-basketball players. These results demonstrate the role of specific action experience in perception of affordances for others