This study investigated the relationship between motor abundance, gaze behavior, and upper limb performance in individuals post-stroke. Twenty-nine adults with stroke performed an upper limb object transportation task in virtual reality under different visual-motor control conditions. Uncontrolled Manifold analysis quantified two types of variability in upper limb and trunk kinematics: variability that stabilizes a critical performance variable-reflecting use of motor abundance-and variability that disrupts performance (nonfunctional variability). Head orientation relative to the end-effector and task environment was used as an indicator of participants' gaze behavior. Results showed that greater use of motor abundance predicted better task performance with the paretic limb. A similar relationship was observed for the non-paretic limb, but only when nonfunctional variability was low; when it was high, greater motor abundance predicted worse performance. Greater use of motor abundance was also related to gaze patterns that were more variable, more temporally structured, and more oriented to the task environment. Together, these findings point to a dual role of motor abundance in supporting the simultaneous demands of active information sampling and stabilization of task-relevant variables during functional activities.
In classic visual search experiments, observers memorize a static symbol then look for it from similar items. Although this task has yielded much understanding about visual attention, it may not fully explain real-world search, where observers often search for events, not static symbols. Events constitute objects in motion and event-specifying information is dynamic. The current study investigates whether observers could search for a target event using mainly dynamic information. Participants first learned a target point-light walker (PLW), then reported its presence or absence in an array of PLWs presented in frontal (Experiment 1) or side (Experiment 2) views. In some trials, the target remained visible throughout search, and participants could look at, instead of memorizing it, and use it as a reference to compare to each search array item. In both experiments, accuracy was above chance; search time was longer than when searching for static items. Having a visible target throughout search improved accuracy and subjectively rated confidence, but increased search time. Eye-tracking data revealed that participants compared search array items with the reference target when available. Therefore, visual search for events is an embedded process, where observers detect dynamic information in real time to discriminate events.
We argue that the ecological crisis we are partaking in is, first and foremost, a crisis in perception. It goes hand-in-hand with uncertainty due to loss of control and prediction. Within this framework, the dualistic mindset insists on an object-oriented ontology underlying and promoting individualism, frustration, and the attachment to solid, visible objects. We call this the optical gaze, connected to the digital pole of the mind. To overcome this ocularcentric paradigm, we need to cultivate the haptic gaze, expression of the analogical pole of the mind, embracing a relational and process-oriented approach. Italo Calvino's Mr. Palomar will be used to illustrate the frictions between these two perceptual modalities and the sense of crisis permeating every aspect of contemporary life. Following James J. Gibson's and Tim Ingold's suggestions, we believe that a relational approach helps raise awareness to the scale of the global challenges we are called upon to respond to, at the same time putting into perspective the theme of uncertainty and the future. This stance falls somewhere between climate and weather, two concepts that reflect opposing attitudes.
Children's playgrounds are everyday environments in which social interaction unfolds without fixed roles, predefined shared goals, or institutionalized coordination. While ecological psychology has developed rigorous accounts of social affordances in structured, multi-agent contexts such as sport, less is known about how social affordances are realized in open-ended peer interaction. This study examines how opportunities for social engagement emerge, stabilize, and dissolve through children's spatial-interactional practices during recess in a Dutch primary school playground. Using micro-observational video analysis of 72 children (ages 5-12), we first assess the applicability of sport-derived social affordance categories to unstructured playground interaction. We then analyze episodes that resist categorical description to identify process dimensions through which social affordances are realized over time. The analysis yields four interrelated dimensions-initiation mechanisms, spatial-social coupling, participation diversity, and temporal dynamics-that specify how children negotiate access to interaction through movement, positioning, and responsiveness to peers and material features. These findings reconceptualize playground social affordances as spatially and temporally unfolding interactional achievements and suggest a shift in research focus toward examining how children negotiate access to social engagement.
