Eye movements during transitive action observation have sequential structure

In this paper, we explore how observers of a reach-to-grasp action can identify and distinguish between the agent and patient (i.e. target) of the action. We investigate the hypothesis that there is a characteristic sequential structure to the observer’s pattern of saccades, with the agent being fix...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Acta psychologica 2010, Vol.133 (1), p.51-56
Main Authors: Webb, Andrew, Knott, Alistair, MacAskill, Michael R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Action observation
Adult
Attention - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Eye Movements - physiology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gaze behaviour
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Motor Activity - physiology
Movement - physiology
Perception
Proactive
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Space Perception - physiology
Time Factors
Vision
Visual Perception - physiology
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Summary:In this paper, we explore how observers of a reach-to-grasp action can identify and distinguish between the agent and patient (i.e. target) of the action. We investigate the hypothesis that there is a characteristic sequential structure to the observer’s pattern of saccades, with the agent being fixated first, and then the target. We report an experiment which indicates that this sequence of saccades, while not ubiquitous, is overwhelmingly more likely than chance. The experiment also sheds some light on the mechanisms which allow the observer to saccade from the agent of the action to the target.
ISSN:0001-6918
1873-6297
DOI:10.1016/j.actpsy.2009.09.001