Visual salience, not the graspable part of a pictured eating utensil, grabs attention

Abstract

Three experiments used compatible and incompatible mappings of images of eating utensils to test the hypothesis that these images activate affordances for grasping with the corresponding hand when the required response is a key-press. In Experiment 1, stimuli were photographs of a plastic spoon oriented on the horizontal axis, with the handle location varying randomly between left and right. Participants were instructed to respond to the handle or the tip, with a compatible mapping in one trial block and an incompatible mapping in another. A benefit for the compatible mapping was evident when the spoon tip was defined as relevant and a smaller cost when the handle was defined as relevant, suggesting a larger influence of the tip than the handle. In Experiment 2, the stimuli were photographs of bamboo chopsticks, for which the functional end is pointed and the graspable end is squared. East Asian participants familiar with chopsticks showed compatibility effects that did not differ significantly between the two ends. In Experiment 3, the chopstick handles were colored red to make them relatively more distinct than the tips. Both East Asian participants (Experiment 3B) and a more diverse sample (Experiment 3A) showed a benefit of the compatible mapping when the handle was defined as task relevant but not when the functional end was. Altogether, the results provide evidence that left-right location of a visually salient feature is the main factor driving these compatibility effects, rather than the automatic activation of a grasping affordance.

Visual salience of 3D and 2D spoons determines S-R mapping and flanker effects

“…The larger compatibility effect with tip-relevant than with handle-relevant in our prior study (Xiong et al, 2019) is in agreement with this analysis, and we expected to replicate that result for 2D images. If the salient tip is the primary factor with 3D objects, they also should show the same result pattern to a similar extent.…”

“…In a prior study, we followed up on the idea that the spoon’s handle produces a grasping affordance using only 2D images, which allows for tighter stimulus control and more trials to be conducted in a given period of time (Xiong et al, 2019). Experiment 1 used simple displays with photographs of a single, centred spoon, for which the side to which the tip was located (as well as the handle) varied randomly from trial to trial.…”

“…Experiments 2 and 3 in Xiong et al (2019) used photographs of bamboo chopsticks as stimuli, for which the functional and graspable ends differ in being pointed and squared, respectively. Without any further highlighting of images in Experiment 2, East Asian participants showed benefits of a compatible mapping that did not differ significantly between whether the handle or tip was defined as relevant.…”

“…Given this knowledge about 2D displays, in this study we focused on comparing 2D and 3D real-object spoon displays using methods that follow up Xiong et al’s (2019) Experiment 1 and Gomez et al’s (2018) Experiment 1 in the present Experiments 1 and 2, respectively. Specifically, participants in Experiment 1 performed the compatible versus incompatible mapping task with 2D displays of the type used in Xiong et al’s Experiment 1 and 3D real-object displays in which the stimuli were spoons mounted on a blackboard.…”

On the Evolution of a Radical Concept: Affordances According to Gibson and Their Subsequent Use and Development

“…But, this cannot be definitively concluded without ruling out variants of customary accounts of S-R compatibility effects. In fact, numerous studies have found that findings initially attributed to grasping affordances on closer empirical inspection often are a result of spatial factors such as the location of a visually salient object property (e.g., Song, Chen, & Proctor, 2014; Xiong, Proctor, & Zelaznik, 2019). Thus, object-based compatibility effects have been obtained for situations in which they would not be expected to occur from the affordance view, such as with both broken handles (e.g., Ambrosecchia, Marino, Gawryszewski, & Riggio, 2015), disembodied objects (e.g., Cho & Proctor, 2010), and even when feet are used as effectors (e.g., Phillips & Ward, 2002; Symes, Ellis, & Tucker, 2005).…”