Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Where does an object trigger an action? An investigation about affordances in space

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Experimental Brain Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A series of experiments provide evidence that affordances rely not only on the mutual appropriateness of the features of an object and the abilities of an individual, but also on the fact that those features fall within her own reachable space, thus being really ready-to-her-own-hand. We used a spatial alignment effect paradigm and systematically examined this effect when the visually presented object was located either within or outside the peripersonal space of the participants, both from a metric (Experiment 1) and from a functional point of view (Experiment 2). We found that objectual features evoke actions only when the object is presented within the portion of the peripersonal space that is effectively reachable by the participants. Experiments 3 and 4 ruled out that our results could be merely accounted for by differences in the visual salience of the presented objects. Our data suggest that the power of an object to automatically trigger an action is strictly linked to the effective possibility that an individual has to interact with it.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ackroyd K, Riddoch MJ, Humphreys GW, Nightingale S, Townsend S (2002) Widening the sphere of influence: using a tool to extend extrapersonal visual space in a patient with severe neglect. Neurocase 8:1–12

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Berti A, Frassinetti F (2000) When far becomes near: remapping of space by tool use. J Cogn Neurosci 12:415–420

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brass M, Bekkering H, Wohlschlager A, Prinz W (2000) Compatibility between observed and executed finger movements: comparing symbolic, spatial, and imitative cues. Brain Cogn 44:124–143

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bub DN, Masson MEJ (2010) Grasping beer mugs: on the dynamics of alignment effects induced by handled objects. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 36:341

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chemero A (2001) What We Perceive When We Perceive Affordances: Commentary on Michaels “Information, Perception, and Action”. Ecol Psychol 13:111–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chemero A (2003) An Outline of a Theory of Affordances. Ecol Psychol 15:181–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chemero A (2009) Radical embodied cognitive science. MIT Press, Cambridge

  • Costantini M, Sinigaglia C (in press) Grasping affordance: a window onto social cognition. In: Joint attention: new developments. MIT press, Cambridge

  • Craighero L, Bello A, Fadiga L, Rizzolatti G (2002) Hand action preparation influences the responses to hand pictures. Neuropsychologia 40:492–502

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis R, Tucker M (2000) Micro-affordance: the potentiation of components of action by seen objects. Br J Psychol 91(Pt 4):451–471

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Farnè A, Ladavas E (2000) Dynamic size-change of hand peripersonal space following tool use. Neuroreport 11:1645–1649

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Farnè A, Iriki A, Ladavas E (2005) Shaping multisensory action-space with tools: evidence from patients with cross-modal extinction. Neuropsychologia 43:238–248

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Farnè A, Serino A, Ladavas E (2007) Dynamic size-change of peri-hand space following tool-use: determinants and spatial characteristics revealed through cross-modal extinction. Cortex 43:436–443

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fogassi L, Gallese V, di Pellegrino G, Fadiga L, Gentilucci M, Luppino G, Matelli M, Pedotti A, Rizzolatti G (1992) Space coding by premotor cortex. Exp Brain Res 89:686–690

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Galati G, Committeri G, Spitoni G, Aprile T, Di Russo F, Pitzalis S, Pizzamiglio L (2008) A selective representation of the meaning of actions in the auditory mirror system. Neuroimage 40:1274–1286

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gentilucci M, Fogassi L, Luppino G, Matelli M, Camarda R, Rizzolatti G (1988) Functional organization of inferior area 6 in the macaque monkey. I. Somatotopy and the control of proximal movements. Exp Brain Res 71:475–490

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson J (1979) The ecological approach to visual perception. Houghton-Mifflin, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Graziano MS, Yap GS, Gross CG (1994) Coding of visual space by premotor neurons. Science 266:1054–1057

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gross CG, Graziano MSA (1995) Multiple representations of space in the brain. Neuroscientist 1:43–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iriki A, Tanaka M, Iwamura Y (1996) Coding of modified body schema during tool use by macaque postcentral neurones. Neuroreport 7:2325–2330

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jeannerod M (1988) The neural and behavioural organization of goal-directed movements. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeannerod M, Arbib MA, Rizzolatti G, Sakata H (1995) Grasping objects: the cortical mechanisms of visuomotor transformation. Trends Neurosci 18:314–320

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Linkenauger SA, Witt JK, Stefanucci JK, Bakdash JZ, Proffitt DR (2009) The effects of handedness and reachability on perceived distance. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 35:1649–1660

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Maravita A, Spence C, Kennett S, Driver J (2002) Tool-use changes multimodal spatial interactions between vision and touch in normal humans. Cognition 83:B25–B34

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Maravita A, Spence C, Driver J (2003) Multisensory integration and the body schema: close to hand and within reach. Curr Biol 13:R531

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Michaels CF, Zeinstra EB, Oudejans RR (2001) Information and action in punching a falling ball. Q J Exp Psychol A 54:69–93

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Neppi-Mòdona M, Rabuffetti M, Folegatti A, Ricci R, Spinazzola L, Schiavone F, Ferrarin M, Berti A (2007) Bisecting lines with different tools in right brain damaged patients: the role of action programming and sensory feedback in modulating spatial remapping. Cortex 43:397–410

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pegna AJ, Petit L, Caldara-Schnetzer AS, Khateb A, Annoni JM, Sztajzel R, Landis T (2001) So near yet so far: neglect in far or near space depends on tool use. Ann Neurol 50:820–822

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rizzolatti G, Berti A (1990) Neglect as a neural representation deficit. Rev Neurol (Paris) 146:626–634

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rizzolatti G, Sinigaglia C (2008) Mirrors in the brain. How our minds share actions and emotions. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Rizzolatti G, Fadiga L, Fogassi L, Gallese V (1997) The space around us. Science 277:190–191

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Serino A, Bassolino M, Farne A, Ladavas E (2007) Extended multisensory space in blind cane users. Psychol Sci 18:642–648

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw R, Turvey M, Mace W (1982) Ecological psychology: the consequence of a commitment to realism. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Stins JF, Michaels CF (1997) Stimulus-target compatibility for reaching movements. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 23:756–767

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sturmer B, Aschersleben G, Prinz W (2000) Correspondence effects with manual gestures and postures: a study of imitation. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 26:1746–1759

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tucker M, Ellis R (1998) On the relations between seen objects and components of potential actions. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 24:830–846

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tucker M, Ellis R (2001) The potentiation of grasp types during visual object categorization. Visual Cogn 8:769–800

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turvey M (1992) Affordances and prospective control: An outline of the ontology. Echol Psychol 4:173–187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turvey MT, Shaw RE, Reed ES, Mace WM (1981) Ecological laws of perceiving and acting: in reply to Fodor and Pylyshyn (1981). Cognition 9:237–304

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • van Schie HT, van Waterschoot BM, Bekkering H (2008) Understanding action beyond imitation: reversed compatibility effects of action observation in imitation and joint action. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 34:1493–1500

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vogt S, Taylor P, Hopkins B (2003) Visuomotor priming by pictures of hand postures: perspective matters. Neuropsychologia 41:941–951

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Witt JK, Proffitt DR (2008) Action-specific influences on distance perception: a role for motor simulation. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 34:1479–1492

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Witt JK, Proffitt DR, Epstein W (2005) Tool use affects perceived distance, but only when you intend to use it. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 31:880–888

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

CS was supported by a grant from San Paolo Foundation and by a grant from MIUR (PRIN 2007). GC was supported by grant from MIUR (PRIN 2007). The authors wish to thank the referees and Vittorio Gallese for their insightful comments on a previous version of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, University G. d’Annunzio, Via dei Vestini 33, 66100, Chieti, Italy

    Marcello Costantini, Ettore Ambrosini, Gaetano Tieri & Giorgia Committeri

  2. Institute for Advanced Biomedical Technologies, ITAB, Foundation University G. d’Annunzio, Chieti, Italy

    Marcello Costantini, Ettore Ambrosini, Gaetano Tieri & Giorgia Committeri

  3. Department of Philosophy, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Corrado Sinigaglia

Authors
  1. Marcello Costantini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ettore Ambrosini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Gaetano Tieri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Corrado Sinigaglia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Giorgia Committeri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marcello Costantini.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Costantini, M., Ambrosini, E., Tieri, G. et al. Where does an object trigger an action? An investigation about affordances in space. Exp Brain Res 207, 95–103 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-010-2435-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-010-2435-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation