Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Prospective coding in event representation

  • Review
  • Published:
Cognitive Processing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A perceived event such as a visual stimulus in the external world and a to-be-produced event such as an intentional action are subserved by event representations. Event representations do not only contain information about present states but also about past and future states. Here we focus on the role of representing future states in event perception and generation (i.e., prospective coding). Relevant theoretical issues and paradigms are discussed. We suggest that the predictive power of the motor system may be exploited for prospective coding not only in producing but also in perceiving events. Predicting is more advantageous than simply reacting. Perceptual prediction allows us to select appropriate responses ahead of the realization of an (anticipated) event and therefore, it is indispensable to flexibly and timely adapt to new situations and thus, successfully interact with our physical and social environment.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Atance CM, O’Neill CM (2001) Episodic future thinking. Trends Cogn Sci 5:533–539

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bangert M, Altenmüller EO (2003) Mapping perception to action in piano practice: a longitudinal DC-EEG study. BMC Neurosci 4:26–36

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bekkering H, Wohlschläger A, Gattis M (2000) Imitation of gestures in children is goal-directed. Q J Exp Psychol A 53(1):153–164

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Blakemore SJ, Frith C (2005) The role of motor contagion in the prediction of action Neuropsychologia 43:260–267

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bosbach S, Prinz W, Kerzel D (2004) A Simon-effect with stationary moving stimuli. J Exp Psychol: Hum Percept Perform 30(1):39–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bosbach S, Prinz W, Kerzel D (2005) Is direction position? Position- and direction-based compatibility effects in tasks with moving stimuli. Q J Exp Psychol 58A(3):467–506

    Google Scholar 

  • Calvo-Merino B, Glaser DE, Grezes J, Passingham RE, Haggard P (2005) Action observation and acquired motor skills: an FMRI study with expert dancers. Cereb Cortex 15(8):1243–1249

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Calvo-Merino B, Grezes J, Glaser DE, Passingham RE, Haggard P (2006) Seeing or doing? Influence of visual and motor familiarity in action observation. Curr Biol 16:1905–1910

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Drost UC, Rieger M, Braß M, Gunter TC, Prinz W (2005) Action-effect coupling in pianists. Psychol Res 69(4):233–241

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eenshusitra RM, Weidema MA, Hommel B (2004) Deveolpment of the acquisition and control of action-effect associations. Acta Psychol 115:185–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elsner B, Hommel B (2001) Effect anticipation and action control. J Exp Psychol: Hum Percept Perform 27:229–240

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Finke RA, Freyd JJ (1985) Transformations of visual memory induced by implied motions of pattern elements. J Exp Psychol: Learn, Mem, Cogn 11:780–794

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Flanagan JR, Johansson RS (2003) Action plans used in action observation. Nature 424:769–771

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Freyd JJ, Finke RA (1984) Representational momentum. J Exp Psychol: Learn, Mem, Cogn 10:126–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frith CD, Blakemore SJ, Wolpert DM (2000) Abnormalities in the awareness and control of action. Philos Trans R Soc B 355:1771–1788

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Graf M, Reitzner B, Corves C, Casile A, Giese M, Prinz W (2007) Predicting point-light actions in real-time. Neuroimage (in press)

  • Greenwald AG (1970a) A choice reaction time test of ideomotor theory. J Exp Psychol 6(1):20–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwald AG (1970b) Sensory feedback mechanisms in performance control: with special reference to ideo-motor mechanism. Psychol Rev 77(2):73–99

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Grush R (2004) The emulation theory of representation: motor control, imagery, and perception. Behav Brain Sci 27:377–442

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guttenplan S (1994) Natural kinds. In: Guttenplan S (ed) A companion to the philosophy of mind. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 449–450

    Google Scholar 

  • Haueisen J, Knösche TR (2001) Involuntary motor activity in pianists evoked by music perception. J Cogn Neurosci 13:786–792

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Heider F, Simmel M (1944) An experimental study of apparent behavior. Am J Psychol 57:243–259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann J, Sebald A, Stoecker C (2001) Irrelevant response effects improve serial learning in a serial reaction time task. J Exp Psychol: Learn, Mem, Cogn 27:470–482

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hommel B (1993) Inverting the Simon effect by intention: determinants of direction and extent of effects of irrelevant spatial information. Psychol Res 55:270–279

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hommel B (1996) The cognitive representation of action: automatic integration of perceived action effects. Psychol Res 59:176–186

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hommel B, Müsseler J, Aschersleben G, Prinz W (2001) The theory of event coding (TEC): a framework for perception and action planning. Behav Brain Sci 24:849–937

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hubbard TL (1996) Representational momentum, centripetal force, and curvilinear impetus. J Exp Psychol: Learn, Mem, Cogn 22:1049–1060

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hubbard TL, Bharucha JJ (1988) Judged displacement in apparent vertical and horizontal motion. Percept Psychophys 44:211–221

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • James W (1890) The Principles of psychology. Holt, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeannerod M (2001) Neural simulation of action: a unifying mechanism for motor cognition. NeuroImage 14:S103–S109

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jellema T, Perrett DI (2003) Perceptual history influences neural responses to face and body postures. J Cogn Neurosci 15:961–971

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johansson G (1973) Visual perception of biological motion and a model for it’s analysis. Percept Psychophys 14:201–211

    Google Scholar 

  • Keller PE, Koch I (2006) The planning and execution of short auditory sequences. Psychon Bull Rev 13:711–716

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kelso JAS (1994) Dynamic patterns: the self-organization of brain and behavior. MIT Press, Campridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerzel D (2002) A matter of design: No representational momentum without predictability. Vis Cogn 9:66–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerzel D (2003) Attention maintains mental extrapolation of target position: Irrelevant distractors eliminate forward displacement after implied motion. Cognition 88:109–131

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kerzel D (2005) Representational Momentum beyond internalized physics: Embodied mechanisms of anticipation cause errors in visual short-term memory. Current Directions in Psychological Science 14(4):180–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerzel D, Bekkering H, Wohlschläger A, Prinz W (2000) Launching the effect: Representations of causal movements are influenced by what they lead to. Q J Exp Psychol. A 53(4):1163–1185

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kerzel D, Gegenfurtner KR (2003) Neuronal processing delays are compensated in the sensorimotor branch of the visual system. Curr Biol 13(22):1975–1978

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kerzel D, Jordan JS, Mu¨sseler J (2001) The role of perception in the mislocalization of the final position of a moving target. J Exp Psychol: Hum Percept and Perform 27:829–840

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kilner JM, Vargas C, Duval S, Blakemore SJ, Sirigu A (2004) Motor activation prior to observation of a predicted movement. Nat Neurosci 7:1299–1301

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Koch I, Kunde W (2002) Verbal response-effect compatibility. Mem Cognit 30:1297–1303

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kozak M, Marsh AA, Wegner DM (2006) What do I think you’re doing? Action identification and mind attribution. J Pers Soc Psychol 90:543–555

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krekelberg B, Lappe M (2001) Neuronal latencies and the position of moving objects. Trends Neurosci 24:335–339

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kunde W (2001) Response-effect compatibility in manual choice-reaction tasks. J Exp Psychol: Hum Percept Perform 27(2):387–394

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kunde W (2004) Response priming by supraliminal and subliminal action effects. Psychol Res 68:91–96

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kunde W, Weigelt M (2005) Goal congruency in bimanual object manipulation. J Exp Psychol: Hum Percept Perform 31:145–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mechsner F, Kerzel D, Knoblich G, Prinz W (2001) Perceptual basis of bimanual coordination. Nature 414:69–72

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mechsner F, Prinz W (2003) What is coordinated in bimanual coordination? In: Tschacher W, Dauwalder JP (eds) The dynamical systems approach to cognition. Studies of nonlinear phenomena in life science, Vol. 10. World Scientific, Singapore

  • Michaels CF (1988) S–R compatibility between response position and destination of apparant motion: Evidence for the detection of affordances. J Exp Psychol: Hum Percept Perform 14:231–240

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Michotte A (1963) The perception of causality. London: Methuen. (Original work published 1946)

  • Nattkemper D, Prinz W (2001) Impact of task demands on spatial stimulus–response compatibility. Z Psychol 209:205–226

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nijhawan R (1994) Motion extrapolation in catching. Nature 370:256–257

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nijhawan R (2002) Neural delays, visual motion and the flash-lag effect. Trends Cogn Sci 6:387–393

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Prinz W (1990) A common coding approach to perception and action. In: Neumann O, Prinz W (eds) Relationships between perception and action: current approaches. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp 167–201

    Google Scholar 

  • Prinz W (1997) Perception and action planning. Eur J Cogn Psychol 9:129–154

    Google Scholar 

  • Prinz W (2006) What re-enactment earns us. Cortex 42:515–517

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Proctor RW, Van Zandt T, Lu CH, Weeks DJ (1993) Stimulus–response compatibility for moving stimuli: Perception of affordances or directional coding? J Expl Psychol: Hum Percept Perform 19(1):81–91

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reed CL, Vinson NG (1996) Conceptual effects on representational momentum. J Exp Psychol: Hum Percept Perform 22:839–850

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rizzolatti G, Craighero L (2004) The mirror-neuron system. Ann Rev Neurosci 27:169–192

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schubotz RI, von Cramon DY (2002) Predicting perceptual events activates corresponding motor schemes in lateral premotor cortex: an fMRI study. NeuroImage 15:787–796

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schubotz RI, von Cramon DY (2004) Sequences of abstract non-biological stimuli share ventral premotor cortex with action observation and imagery. J Neurosci 24:5467–5474

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Semjen A, Summers JJ, Cattaert D (1995) The coordination of the hands in bimanual circle drawing. J Exp Psychol: Hum Percept Perform 21:1139–1157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simon JR (1969) Reactions toward the source of stimulation. J Exp Psychol 81:174–176

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Simon JR, Rudell AP (1967) Auditory S–R compatibility: The effect of an irrelevant cue on information processing. J Appl Psychol 51:300–304

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stoecker C, Hoffmann J (2003) The ideomotor principle and motor sequence acquisition: tone effects facilitate movement chunking. Psychol Res 68:126–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoecker C, Sebald A, Hoffmann J (2003) The influence of response-effect compatibility in a serial reaction time task. Q J Exp Psychol 56A:685–703

    Google Scholar 

  • Szpunar KK, Watson JM, McDermott KB (2007) Neural substrates of envisioning the future. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 104(2):642–647

  • Vallacher RR, Wegner DM (1985) A theory of action identification. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ

    Google Scholar 

  • Vallacher RR, Wegner DM (1987) What do people think they’re doing? Action identification and human behavior. Psychol Rev 94:3–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verfaillie K, d’Ydewalle G (1991) Representational momentum and event course anticipation in the perception of implied periodical motions. J Exp Psychol: Learn, Mem, and Cogn 17:302–313

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Weigelt M, Rieger M, Mechsner F, Prinz W (2007) Target-related coupling in bimanual reaching movements. Psychological Research (in press)

  • Wilson M (2001) Perceiving imitatible stimuli: consequences of isomorphism between input and output. Psychol Bull 127:543–553

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson M (2005) Covert imitation: how the body schema acts as a prediction device. In: Knoblich G, Thornton I, Grosjean M, Shiffrar M (eds) Perception of the Human body from the inside out. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson M, Knoblich G (2005) The case for motor involvement in perceiving conspecifics. Psychol Bull 131:460–473

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wolpert DM, Doya K, Kawato M (2003) A unifying computational framework for motor control and social interaction. Phil Trans R Soc Lond B 358:593–602

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolpert DM, Flanagan JR (2001) Motor prediction. Curr Biol 11:R729–R732

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wolpert DM, Miall RC, Kawato M (1998) Internal models in the cerebellum. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 2:338–347

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ziessler M, Nattkemper D (2001) Learning of event sequences is based on response-effect learning: further evidence from a serial reaction task. J Exp Psychol: Learn, Mem Cogn 27:595–613

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstr. 1a, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Simone Schütz-Bosbach & Wolfgang Prinz

Authors
  1. Simone Schütz-Bosbach
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Wolfgang Prinz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Simone Schütz-Bosbach.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schütz-Bosbach, S., Prinz, W. Prospective coding in event representation. Cogn Process 8, 93–102 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-007-0167-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-007-0167-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation