Action-perception loops in decision making and linguistic processing

In a series of experiments within Goal-Leaders and WoRHD projects,we investigated the dynamics of decision-making by tracking healthy adults' hand movements toward alternative responses during categorization and lexical decision tasks. Continuous x–y coordinates of computer-mouse trajectories provided a kinematic measure of the unfolding decision process.

Results showed that decision-making and action execution are not necessarily separate cognitive stages. Rather, partially activated representations dynamically compete during action, with mouse trajectories providing a continuous behavioral signature of the underlying cognitive process.

This action-dynamics approach has subsequently become part of my methodological toolkit for investigating the temporal dynamics of conceptual and affective processing.

Publications on this topic:

• Barca, L., Benedetti, F., Pezzulo. G. (2015). The effects of phonological similarity on the semantic categorization of pictorial and lexical stimuli: evidence from continuous behavioral measures. Journal of Cognitive Psychology

• Barca, L., Pezzulo. G. (2015). Tracking second thoughts: continuous and discrete revision processes during visual lexical decision. PlosOne, 10(2): e0116193. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0116193

• Barca, L., & Pezzulo, G.  (2012). Unfolding visual lexical decision in time. PlosOne, 7(4): e3593. [link] 

• • Quétard, B., Quinton, J.C., Colomb, M., Pezzulo, G., Barca, L., Izaute, M., Appadoo, O.K., Mermillod, M. (2015). Combined effects of expectations and visual uncertainty upon detection and identification of a target in the fog. Cognitive Processing, DOI:10.1007/s10339-015-0673-1