Action Specific Theory of Perception

- A theory based on the notion that individuals perceive their environment in terms of their ability to act. 

- Made up of three parts: a visually-specified environment, a body, and a purpose.

Several studies have been conducted on this theory, ranging from performance studies, physiology studies, and psychological studies. 

Early Studies: Physiological Factors

Terrain slant (Proffitt et al., 1995) - generally found that humans largely overestimate slant.

Affordances (Bhalla & Proffitt, 1999) - tested distance perception in participants when they encountered a physical encumberment (wearing a heavy backpack). They generally found an overestimation of slant when participants were wearing the backpack compared to when they were not. 

Reachability (Witt, Proffitt, & Epstein, 2004) - Tested participant reachability of an object when they were given a tool to aid in reaching it versus solely using their own arm. They found that participant perceived their reachability to be better with the tool than without. This research also found that participants judged distances to be further when the effort needed to reach them is greater. 

Early Studies: Performance

Several studies have noted changes in perception while playing sports:

Softball Players (Witt & Proffitt, 2005) - players who are performing well perceived the ball to be bigger than those who weren't playing well. 

Tennis Players (Witt & Sugovic, 2012) - players often perceive the ball to be moving slower when they are performing well. 

Golfers (Witt & Proffitt, 2012) - players endorse statements of the hole appearing bigger on the green when they played a good game. 

Early Studies: Psychological Factors 

Height

Stefanucci and colleagues, 2008 - Studied perception in participants who were standing on top of a high hill on either a skateboard or a box. Steeper hill estimates were given for those who cited having a greater fear of heights than those who were not as afraid.

Stefanucci and Storbeck, 2009 - Studied perception by causing arousal in participants (by viewing an image) before standing on top of a balcony. Taller height estimates were given by individuals who had higher arousal scores than those who had lower scores. 

Effect of Fear on Perception

Fear has been found to influence perception. More specifically, those who report higher levels of fear also report increased perceptual distortions.

These feelings can often lead to many different behaviors, such as withdrawal or avoidance behaviors to avoid threats. 

Several studies have noted the role of psychological changes (i.e., fear, anxiety, stress) on perception. 

Anxiety

(Greydon et al., 2012) - Examined changes in perception after encountering an anxious state. Participants entered into an anxious state after only being allowed to breathe through a small straw and were asked to perform several reachability experiments. Overall, these experiments demonstrated that participants underestimated their reaching capabilities more when in an anxious state compared to a calm state. 

Phobias

Vasey et al., 2012 - Participants were asked to judge the size of several different spiders. Participants who reported higher fear levels of spiders reported bigger size estimations than those who reported being less afraid of them. 

Cole et al., 2013 - Participants were asked to judge the distance of several different spiders. Those who reported a heightened fear of spiders also reported the spiders to be closer than participants who were not afraid of spiders. 

Familiarity

Conflicting research has been found on the effect of familiarity on perception. On one hand, some research has found that people who are familiar to us are perceived as being closer than those who are not, but conflicting research has noted that the perception of threat (such as not knowing a person) leads us to perceive them as being closer. 

Research in this area supports the notion that belonging to an "out-group" leads individuals who are a part of the "in-group" to perceive out-group members to be closer than in-group members. 

Xiao & Bavel, 2012 

These researchers conducted three separate experiments to test perception in the context of group membership. 

- Study 1: Participants were asked to judge the distance between a set of baseball stadiums. Participants were recruited during a Yankee's game and were asked to estimate the distance between their home stadium and the stadium of their rivals, the Red Sox (Fenway Park). They were also asked to judge the distance between their home stadium and the stadium of the Orioles, another team in the league. 

- Study 2: Participants were students attending NYU university and asked to estimate the distance between their university and that of Columbia University. Before their estimation, participants were asked to read an article depicting NYU in either neutral, positive regard to Columbia or in negative, rival regard. After reading these articles, participants were asked to make their distance estimations. 

- Study 3: Participants were asked to first complete a 4-item modified version of the Perceived Realistic Threat Scale (Stephan et al., 1999). This is a scale that assesses the degree that American participants agreed or disagreed with statements relating to the burden that Mexican immigration posed (e.g., “Immigration from Mexico is undermining American culture”). Participants were then asked to estimate the distance from New York City to Mexico City, Mexico City to Los Angeles, and Mexico City to Vancouver, Canada. 

In all of these studies, participants who belonged to the in-group (i.e., Yankee fans, NYU students, and US citizens) perceived distances to be closer when the out-group was perceived as threatening. 

Proxemics

Proxemics is the study of how space is used within the context of human interaction. Human interaction comes in both verbal and non-verbal forms, and when personal space is violated in these interactions, negative consequences can arise (i.e., being viewed as being intimidating or disrespectful).

These consequences are housed within the compensation, balance, and privacy theory of proxemics, which states that people constantly adjust their use of space to fit the presence and interaction with others (McCall, 2016). 

Research in this area has found that objects that do not belong to a person or are perceived as being threatening often appear closer to individuals.