Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Liverpool, Eleanor Rathbone Building, Bedford Street South, Liverpool, L69 7ZA, UK.
Psychon Bull Rev. 2019 Feb;26(1):374-384. doi: 10.3758/s13423-018-1511-0.
Can higher level cognition directly influence visual spatial perception? Many recent studies have claimed so, on the basis that manipulating cognitive factors (e.g., morality, emotion, action capacity) seems to directly affect perception. However, Firestone and Scholl (Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 39, 1-77, 2016) argued that such studies often fall prey to at least one of six pitfalls. They further argued that if an effect could be accounted for by any of these pitfalls, it is not a true demonstration of a top-down influence of cognition on perception. In response to Firestone and Scholl (Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 39, 1-77, 2016), Witt (Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 24(4), 999-1021, 2017) discussed four action-specific scaling effects which, she argued, withstand all six pitfalls and thus demonstrate true perceptual changes caused by differences in action capacity. Her third case study was the influence of apparent grasping capacity on perceived object size. In this article, we provide new interpretations of previous findings and assess recent data which suggest that this effect is not, in fact, perceptual. Instead, we believe that many earlier studies showing this effect are subject to one or more of the pitfalls outlined by Firestone and Scholl (Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 39, 1-77, 2016). We substantiate our claims with recent empirical evidence from our laboratory which suggests that neither actual nor perceived grasping capacity directly influence perceived object size. We conclude that studies manipulating grasping capacity do not provide evidence for the action-specific account because variation in this factor does not directly influence size perception.
更高层次的认知是否能直接影响视觉空间感知？许多近期研究声称可以，其依据是操纵认知因素（例如道德、情绪、行动能力）似乎能直接影响感知。然而，Firestone 和 Scholl（《行为与脑科学》，39，1-77，2016）认为，此类研究常常容易受到至少六种陷阱的影响之一。他们进一步指出，如果一种效应可以用这些陷阱中的任何一个来解释，那么它就不是认知对感知的自上而下影响的真正体现。针对 Firestone 和 Scholl（《行为与脑科学》，39，1-77，2016）的观点，Witt（《心理科学通报与评论》，24（4），999-1021，2017）讨论了四种特定于动作的尺度效应，她认为，这四种效应可以经受住所有六种陷阱的考验，因此可以证明是由动作能力差异引起的真正的感知变化。她的第三个案例研究是表观抓握能力对感知物体大小的影响。在本文中，我们对先前的发现提供了新的解释，并评估了最近的数据，这些数据表明，这种效应实际上不是感知性的。相反，我们认为，许多早期的研究表明，这种效应受到 Firestone 和 Scholl（《行为与脑科学》，39，1-77，2016）所概述的一个或多个陷阱的影响。我们用我们实验室的最新实证证据支持了我们的主张，这些证据表明，实际的和感知的抓握能力都不会直接影响感知到的物体大小。我们的结论是，操纵抓握能力的研究并没有为特定于动作的解释提供证据，因为该因素的变化不会直接影响大小感知。
