Photographs Beyond Concepts: Access to Actions and Sensations

Abstract

One of the most important things people see is what other people do. In photographs of actions, people see what other people have done. This analysis focuses on photographs of motor actions or interactions taken in naturally occurring situations. I suggest that such photographs represent special meanings, which I call action-related meanings. I examined the hypothesis that viewers understand these meanings by establishing motor and somatosensory neural representations of pictured actions, which would also be activated if viewers would actually perform these actions. This correspondence provides a special access to bodily meanings of pictured actions. Based on findings on vision and reactions to photographs from multiple research areas, I developed a novel framework that describes the neural basis of understanding action-related meanings of photographs; how these meanings differ from conceptual meanings; the characteristics of pictured actions, which influence the strength of motor and somatosensory responses; the processes making these responses accessible to conscious experiencing; and the potential emotional, social, and cultural value of photographs picturing actions. The proposed framework contains a number of predictions, which can be tested by future empirical investigations. The analysis aims to contribute to a better understanding of the meanings represented by photographs of actions.

Hunters and Gatherers of Pictures: Why Photography Has Become a Human Universal

“…Why are they important for people all over the world? Which meanings can almost only be represented and communicated through photos Kislinger, 2021 ), and which cannot? In this section, we will refer to cognitive and social building blocks, which are part of the evolved nature of modern humans and suggest answers to these questions.…”

“…Language enables humans to integrate a huge amount of information into meaningful contexts and to create explanations of events in which these events appear ordered and understandable toward a goal, rather than meaningless, accidental and pointless (Kahneman, 2011 ). In addition to language, an evolutionarily older cognitive system remained (Evans, 2008 ; Kahneman, 2011 ), providing quick reactions to relevant events in the environment on the basis of minimal sensory information, for example, via faces with emotional expressions or expressive body poses (Kislinger, 2021 ). Certain events depicted in photos cause activations of evolutionarily old brain structures, like superior colliculus, pulvinar, and amygdala (Morris et al, 1999 ; Van Le et al, 2013 ; Almeida et al, 2015 ).…”

Photographs of Actions: What Makes Them Special Cues to Social Perception

“…There is, however, controversy about the properties of the knowledge conveyed by neural AON activities: is this knowledge only provided by AON activities, or is it dependent on conceptual and semantic processing [ 15 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ]? Is it primarily related to understanding the goal of actions [ 3 , 5 , 15 ], or does it relate equally to several elements of actions, such as grips, movements of body parts, somatosensory processes, objects involved, or context [ 50 , 51 , 52 ]? A key issue is how generalized or specific the action-related information is that comprises this knowledge [ 7 , 47 , 50 ].…”

“…The magnocellular pathway also projects into inferior parietal regions that belong to the AON and contain visuo-somatosensory neurons. Visuo-somatosensory neurons and neural ensembles in the somatosensory cortices could establish somatosensory categorization ([ 36 ]; for the review, see [ 51 ]). Regarding the topic of this review, it is important to note that the magnocellular system is also activated by seeing static pictures [ 116 , 117 ].…”

“…Explanations of the cognitive products of the processes in the AON or the mirror neuron system in connection with semantic processes are questionable [ 51 ]. The activation of mirror neurons based on semantic processes requires that an observed action has already been recognized when the mirror neurons start to work.…”