A primary means by which humans interact with the physical world is by coordinating the hands with the eyes and the body. We reach out to manipulate objects, and often those objects are manipulated relative to the body (like when one reaches out for food while eating). The visual and motor systems have evolved in the context of such task demands, resulting in an intimate coordination between these and other sensorimotor systems. When the inputs to each system go out of alignment, either due to natural circumstances or manipulations in the laboratory, the result can be a perceptual illusion. Perceptual scientists have examined such illusions for over a hundred years as sources of evidence about the underlying sensorimotor mechanisms.
With support of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Matin will investigate a newfound illusion that arises from the interaction of visual and motor systems. Under certain conditions, a person will visually misperceive the location of an object at arm's length, even though the person can point to it accurately with a fully extended arm. Dr. Matin's research project will examine this illusion from an action-oriented perspective. The results promise to advance our understanding of the coordination between perception and action, and may provide basic knowledge that is useful for understanding perceptual-motor dysfunctions that can occur as a result of injury or disease.
