Fitts's Law Holds for Action Perception

Fitts's Law Holds for Action Perception

Fitts's law is one of the most well-established principles in psychology. It captures the relation between speed and accuracy in performed and imagined movements. The aim of this study was to determine whether this law also holds during the perception of other people's actions. Subjects we...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological science 2007-02, Vol.18 (2), p.95-99
Main Authors: Grosjean, Marc, Shiffrar, Maggie, Knoblich, Günther
Format: Article
Language:eng
Subjects:
Accuracy
Action theory
Adult
Apparent motion
Behavioral neuroscience
Cognitive psychology
Displays
Experimental psychology
Female
Human movement
Humans
Imagery
Linear regression
Logistic functions
Male
Missing persons
Models, Psychological
Motion
Motors
Movement
Movement perception
Observational research
Perception
Perceptions
Psychology
Psychology - methods
Psychology - statistics & numerical data
Research Reports
Velocity
Visual Perception
Width
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Summary:Fitts's law is one of the most well-established principles in psychology. It captures the relation between speed and accuracy in performed and imagined movements. The aim of this study was to determine whether this law also holds during the perception of other people's actions. Subjects were shown apparent motion displays of a person moving his arm between two identical targets. Target width, the separation between targets, and movement speed were varied. Subjects reported whether the person could move at the perceived speed without missing the targets. The movement times reported as being just possible were exactly those predicted by Fitts's law (r² = .96). A subsequent experiment demonstrated the same lawful relation for the perception of a robot arm (r² = .93). To our knowledge, this makes Fitts's law the first motor principle that holds in imagery and the perception of biological and nonbiological agents.
ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280