Perceiving and interacting affordances: a new model of human-affordance interactions.

This article introduces a new affordance framework for humans and human design. Based on previous important concepts in product design-affordance, signifier, and product semantics, the authors propose three new concepts to illustrate how people perceive affordance. According to the model, perceptual probability of affordance is the probability that the public can perceive a certain affordance; perceptual threshold of affordance is the threshold at which affordance can be perceived by a person and changed by perceptual information; and situations, in which interactions between affordances and people exist, are crucial influences on human-affordance interactions. An illustration of the model and suggestions for further research are provided.