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perception – action links
Intuition suggests that we are the masters of our actions. There is accumulating evidence, however, that unconscious processes co-determine many psychological phenomena including attention and behavior. Which concepts come to our minds, which objects grasp our attention, and which information we remember is largely determined by processes beyond conscious control. Recent psychological research suggests that the same also holds for our actions. Human behavior is often triggered and carried out automatically and outside of conscious awareness. In fact, human action is often initiated via a direct link between perceptual inputs and behavioral outputs. The nature of these perception-action links is currently discussed in psychology, neurobiology, and cognitive neuroscience. In our research we examine the mechanisms that underlie perception-action links. In this research we have demonstrated that the link between perception and action is bidirectional in nature. Perceptual input that activates a specific concept does not only automatically lead to concept-consistent behavior, as abundant recent research demonstrates. The mere enactment of a specific behavior also automatically activates concepts that are closely associated with this behavior. For example, engaging in the kind of slow movements that are associated with the elderly, automatically activates the elderly stereotype (Mussweiler, 2006). In our research, we have also established the existence of one specific perception-action link, namely that between sexual perceptual input and aggressive behavior (Mussweiler & Förster, 2000). More specifically, we show that activating sexual concepts induces male participants to automatically behave in a more aggressive manner.
last update: 2013-04-15 – this site was produced by Mediale Präsenz and lu-x.de