Actions as perceptual experiments

How do we know where (and when) things happen? We review evidence that actions operate as experiments that test and recalibrate internal spatial hypotheses. Postsaccadic errors across ∼100,000 daily saccades induce serial dependencies that shift visual localization. During eye-head gaze shifts, the brain compares expected self-generated motion with sensed motion; subtle velocity-gain perturbations bias perception and head kinematics. In locomotion, manipulating optic-flow speed changes walked distance and, in turn, rescales perceived depth. Temporal reproduction shows serial dependence within action but little transfer to visual time perception. Together, these findings support a unifying perspective on visual space perception as a permanent and active probing of our internal predictions about the environment.

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Publication Details

Journal
Journal of Vision
Published
2026-05-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.26.5.10
Primary Topic
Action Observation and Synchronization
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Actions as perceptual experiments

Antonella Pomè, Eckart Zimmermann
Journal of Vision
Action Observation and Synchronization
article

Actions as perceptual experiments

Antonella Pomè, Eckart Zimmermann
article en

Abstract

How do we know where (and when) things happen? We review evidence that actions operate as experiments that test and recalibrate internal spatial hypotheses. Postsaccadic errors across ∼100,000 daily saccades induce serial dependencies that shift visual localization. During eye-head gaze shifts, the brain compares expected self-generated motion with sensed motion; subtle velocity-gain perturbations bias perception and head kinematics. In locomotion, manipulating optic-flow speed changes walked distance and, in turn, rescales perceived depth. Temporal reproduction shows serial dependence within action but little transfer to visual time perception. Together, these findings support a unifying perspective on visual space perception as a permanent and active probing of our internal predictions about the environment.

Journal of VisionVol. 26(5)
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (DE), Hochschule Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences (DE)
Openalex Percentile: Top 4%
Action Observation and Synchronization
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