r e s e a r c h
General
Research Interests
Specific Research Interests
................. Haptic
Perception & Tool Use
..................Perceptual
Attention & Perceptual Learning
..................Ecological
Acoustics
..................Theoretical
Issues
If you are interested in working on research projects in my lab click here
Straightforwardly, the purpose of perception is to link the perceiver with the environment. The perceptual systems are the means by which a perceiver comes into contact with the world. Without this contact, there can be no behavior, no learning, and no development. Developmental success (both phylogenetic and ontogenetic) requires that animals behave with respect to environmental exigencies. Simply, beneficial things are to be approached and harmful things are to be avoided. In achieving these goals, an animal must be capable of controlling its behavior ahead of time based on what it sees, hears, feels, smells, or tastes. That is, perceptual systems must allow an organism to: (1) perceive opportunities for behavior and (2) control its behavior in a goal-directed manner. My work has focused on situating traditional psychological phenomena into the context of this cycle of perception and behavior.
If perceivers are capable of determining what opportunities for behavior exist in a given setting, then they are capable of perceiving whether or not certain behaviors are possible. Is a given object within reach or not? Is a given object edible or not? Can a given break in the support surface be stepped over or not? In short, animals engage in categorizing their world based on those actions that are possible under a given set of circumstances. Proper categorization of this kind is essential not only for behavior but also for learning and development.
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A fundamental premise of my research is that animals perceive the world in terms of "action-categories"— behaviors that are possible given (1) that animals action capablilities and (2) a particular layout of surfaces. For example, the gazelle pictured to the left may perceive the world in terms of forces required for jumping over a gap, or whether a surface provides support for locomotion. Thanks to Claudia Carello for artistic contribution |
Publications in this line of research include:
Regia-Corte, T. , & Wagman, J. B. (in press). Perception of affordances for standing on an inclined surface depends on height of center of mass. Experimental Brain Research.
Malek, E. A., & Wagman, J. B. (in press). Kinetic potential influences visual and remote haptic perception of affordances for standing on an inclined surface. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.
Wagman, J. B., & Malek, E. A. (2008). Perception of whether an object affords walking under from different points of observation. Ecological Psychology., 20, 65-83.
Wagman, J. B., & Malek, E. A. (2007). Perception whether an object can be carried through an aperture depends on anticipated speed, Experimental Psychology, 54, 54-61.
Wagman, J. B., & Taylor, K. R. (2005). Perception of affordances for aperture crossing for the person-plus-object-system. Ecological Psychology, 17, 105-130.
Wagman, J. B. & Taylor, K. R. (2005). Perceived arm posture and remote haptic perception of whether an object can be stepped over. Journal of Motor Behavior, 37, 337-342. (for a PDF copy click here )
Current and Former Students working with me on this line of research include: Tony Regia-Corte , Post Doctoral Fellow (Far right) Eric Malek , Graduate Student (near right) Karen Burtschi, Undergraduate Student Jessica DeWitt, Undergraduate Student |
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How do people know what (hand-held) objects can be used for? How are these properties perceived? One of my main research interests is investigating the formation of action categories in the perception of functional utility of hand-held objects. Perceiving such properties requires the detection of information about how that object might be controlled (i.e., what forces are required and in what direction they are required for its task-specific controlled). My current and future work in this area is focused on understanding the physical properties of object that “matter” to the touch system in perception of “action-relevant” properties of hand-held objects such as tools or sports equipment.
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On the left (above) is a depiction of the inertial ellipsoid of the hand-plus-tool system shown. Properties of this ellipsoid (such as its overall volume) play a role in perception of the "action-relevant properties" described above. On the right (above) is a skematic of a typical experiment in this line of research. Here the participant is attempting to perceive the functional utility if the hand-held object for a hammering task as well as for a poking task (thanks to Claudia Carello for her artisitic contribution).
Publications in this line of research include:
Carello, C., & Wagman, J. B. (2008). Mutuality in the Perception of Affordances and the Control of Movement. In D. Sternad (Ed.). Progress in Motor Control: A Multidisciplinary Perspective (pp. 271-289), New York: Springer.
Wagman, J.B. , Zimmerman, C., & Sorric, C. (2007). Which feels heavier—a pound of lead or a pouind of feathers? A potential percpetual basis of a cognitive riddle. Perception, 36, 1709-1711.
Wagman, J. B., Taylor, K. R. (2004). Chosen striking location and the user-tool-environment system. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied,10, 267-280. (for a PDF copy of this paper click here )
Wagman, J. B. (2004). Human factors implications of controlling user-tool-environment interfaces. In Proceedings of the Human Factos Society 48th Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors Society (1330-1333).
Dainoff, M. J., & Wagman, J. B. (2004). Implication of dynamic touch for human factors/ergonomics: Contributions from ecological psychology. In Proceedings of the Human Factos Society 48th Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors Society (1319-1320).
Wagman, J. B. & Carello, C. (2003). Haptically creating affordances: The user-tool interface. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 9, 175–186. (for a PDF copy of this paper click here)
Riley, M. A., Wagman, J. B., Carello, C., Santana, M V., & Turvey, M.T. (2002). Perceptual behavior: Recurrence analysis of an exploratory procedure. Perception, 33, 481-510.
Wagman, J. B. & Carello, C. (2001). Affordances and inertial constraints on tool use. Ecological Psychology, 13, 173-195. (for a PDF copy of this paper, click here )
Current and Former Students working with me onthis line of research include: Jeremiah Orr , Graduate Student Chris Sorric , Graduate Student Karen Burtschi, Undergraduate Student |
perceptual attention & perceptual learning
If perceivers are capable of selective control of behavior, and behavior is regulated by means of perception (see above), then perceivers must be capable of selectively attending to (selectively “locking on to”) behavior-relevant aspects of the stimulation array. Skilled perceiver-performers such as pilots, air traffic controllers, athletes, and physicians seem to do this with relative ease. How do such perceptual skills develop? Like cognitive and motor skills, perceptual skills develop by means of learning. When such learning applies to the sharpening, development or tuning of a perceptual skill, it is known as perceptual learning. The outcome of perceptual learning is that the perceiver is better able to direct attention in performing perceptual tasks. My current and future work in this area is focused on understanding how skilled perceivers direct attention appropriately and how to best facilitate the development of perceptual skill.
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On the left (above) is an example of the perceptual learning task from Gibson & Gibson (1955). The task of the participant was to idnetifiy the "standard scribble" (top) from among four possible choices (below). Participants improved with practice at the task, even when that practice did not include explicit knowledge of results. On the right (above) is a skematic of a typical experiment on percpetual learning. The perceiver attempting to differentiate the height and width of the attached block.
Publications in this line of research include:
Wagman, J. B., Carello, C., Schmidt, R. C., & Turvey, M. T. (under revision). Is perceptual learning unimodal?
Wagman, J. B., McBride, D. M., & Trefzger, A. J. (2008). Perceptual experience and post-test improvements in perceptual accuracy and consistency. Perception & Psychophysics, 70, 1060-1067.
Wagman, J. B., Shockley, K., Riley, M. A., & Turvey, M. T. (2001) Attunement, calibration, and exploration in fast haptic perceptual learning. Journal of Motor Behavior. 33, (4) 323-327.
Current and Former Students working with me on this line of research include:
Kyriakos Tsiappoutas (KT), Graduate Student; Quantitaive; Department of Psychology, ISU
Amanda Trefzger, Undergraduate Student; Department of Psychology, ISU
Just as people can perceive properties of hand-held objects (see above), they can also hear properties of objects or events that are occluded from view. Some degree of such auditory skill is valuable in many aspects of daily life but is perhaps most salient in situations as varied as navigating through a busy intersection, determining the source of strange noise in the middle of the night, or even conducting a symphony orchestra.
Specifically, they are designed to uncover the physical properties of objects and events that that “matter” to the auditory system (i.e., the variables to which the auditory system is sensitive in perceiving properties of objects and events). My current and future work in this area is focused on understanding the capabilities of the auditory system to perceive “action-relevant” properties of objects or events.
Publications in this line of research include:
Carello, C., Wagman, J. B., & Turvey, M. T. (2005). Acoustic Specification of Object Properties. In J. Anderson & B. Anderson (Eds). Moving Image Theory: Ecological Considerations. (pp. 79 -104). Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois Press.
Wagman, J. B., Hopkins, K. M., & Minarik, J. (2005). Does length sound like what length feels like? In H. Heft & K. Marsh (Eds.) Studies in Perception and Action VIII. Proceedings from the Thirteenth International Conference on Perception and Action. (pp. 162-165). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum & Associates.
Wagman, J. B. (2003). What is the sound of one rod dropping?. In S. Rogers & J. Effken (Eds.) Studies in Perception and Action VII. Proceedings from the Twelfth International Conference on Perception and Action. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum & Associates.
My research is in the ecological approach to perception and action in the tradition of James J. Gibson and Eleanor J. Gibson. From this perspective, perception is defined with the respect to behavior. It is a direct awareness of behaviorally-relevant properties of objects and events in the environment. The approach to understanding perception and behavior in this way is compatible with approaches such as field theory, self-organizing physics, dynamical systems, and the transactional approach to behavioral development.
Publications in this line of research include:
Wagman, J. B. (2008). Perception-action as reciprocal, continuous, and prospective. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31, 219-220
Wagman, J. B. (2007). Socially nested reciprocities in perception-action and development. European Journal of Developmental Science, 1, 226-229.
Carello, C. & Wagman, J. B. (2006). Symmetry and Duality II. Ecological Psychology, 18, 239-242.
Wagman, J. B. & Miller, D. B. (2003). Nested reciprocities: The organism-environment system in perception-action and development. Developmental Psychobiology, 42, 317-334. (for a PDF copy of this paper, click here)
Wagman, J. B., & Miller, D. B. (2003). The womb and the skin as false boundaries in perception-action and development: A response. Developmental Psychobiology, 42, 362-367.
Wagman, J. B. (2002). Symmetry for the sake of symmetry or symmetry for the sake of behavior? (commentary) Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 25:3, 423-424.
Shaw, R.E. & Wagman, J. B. (2001). Explanatory burdens and natural law: invoking a field description of perception-action. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24:5, 905-906.
