70 • CHAPTER 3 Perception
consider how movement helps us perceive, and how movement and perception interact
with one another.MOVEMENT FACILITATES PERCEPTION
Although movement adds a complexity to perception that isn’t there when we are sit-
ting in one place, movement also helps us perceive objects in the environment more
accurately. One reason this occurs is that moving reveals aspects of objects that are not
apparent from a single viewpoint. For example, consider the “horse” in ● Figure 3.32.
From one viewpoint this object looks like a metal sculpture of a fairly normal horse
(Figure 3.32a). However, it walking around the horse reveals that it isn’t as normal as
it fi rst appeared (Figures 3.32b and c). Thus, seeing an object from different viewpoints
provides added information that results in more accurate perception, especially for
objects that are out of the ordinary, such as the distorted horse.THE INTERACTION OF PERCEPTION AND ACTION
Our concern with movement extends beyond noting that it helps us perceive objects
by revealing additional information about them. Movement is also important because
of the coordination that is continually occurring between perceiving stimuli and taking
action toward these stimuli. Consider, for example, what happens when Crystal reaches
out and picks up her coffee cup (● Figure 3.33). She fi rst identifi es the coffee cup among● FIGURE 3.33 Picking up a cup of coff ee: (a) perceiving and recognizing the cup;
(b) reaching for it; (c) grasping and picking it up. This action involves coordination between
perceiving and action that is carried out by two separate streams in the brain, as described
in the text.(a) Perceive cup (b) Reach for cup (c) Grasp cup● FIGURE 3.32 Three views of a “horse.” Moving around an object can reveal its true shape.(a)(b) (c)Bruce GoldsteinCopyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.