Citation

Witt J, Connor B, Tenhundfeld N, Parnes J. J. Vis. 2015; 15(12): 250.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology)

DOI

10.1167/15.12.250

PMID

26325938

Abstract

Object perception is influenced by a number of non-visual factors. One factor relates to embodied cognition: objects are more likely to be identified as the object held and used to respond. For example, observers are more biased to see guns when they also hold and respond with a gun than when they respond with a neutral object. In the current experiments, we tested whether prior experience with guns modifies this gun-embodiment bias. Gun owners and video game players participated in the experiments. Gun owners were just as biased as novices to perceive guns as present, and the bias was similar regardless of whether a real gun or a toy gun was used. Video game players, on the other hand, only showed the bias when they responded with a real gun but not with a toy gun. The results suggest that the same object can be embodied in different ways. However, once the object is embodied, its influence on object perception is stable and fixed, rather than flexible and malleable. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.

Language: en