The affordance of interceptability for oneself and others
The affordance of interceptability for oneself and others
This PhD research of Samruddhi Damle explores how well people can perceive whether they can successfully intercept a moving object - like catching a ball - and how reliably they make these perceptual judgments in dynamic situations. Such opportunities for action are known as “affordances,” which is what the environment enables a person to act upon. While affordances are well studied in static settings, much less is known about how well people can perceive them when things are in motion.
To investigate this, the researchers designed a series of experiments in which participants used a handheld device to move a virtual paddle and try to intercept moving balls on a screen. Across multiple studies, participants either attempted to intercept the balls or judged whether interception was possible - both for themselves and for others.
The findings show that people are generally good at knowing their own abilities, correctly identifying when they can or cannot intercept a moving object in about three out of four cases. Their success depends on factors such as how far they must move, how fast the ball moves and the angle at which it approaches.
Importantly, people are also able to judge others people’s abilities with similar accuracy, even without seeing the final trial outcome. This suggests that we directly perceive shared visual information from the ball-paddle movement itself. Overall, the research shows that humans can skillfully perceive action possibilities in dynamic situations, both for themselves and for others.