Realistic and complex visual chasing behaviors trigger the perception of intentionality.

We not only perceive the physical state of the environment, but also the causal structures underlying the physical state. Determining whether an object has intentionality is a key component of this process. Among all possible intentions, the intention that has arguably been studied the most is chasi...

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Main Authors: Mohan Ji, Emily J Ward, C Shawn Green
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2023-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284485
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author Mohan Ji
Emily J Ward
C Shawn Green
author_facet Mohan Ji
Emily J Ward
C Shawn Green
author_sort Mohan Ji
collection DOAJ
description We not only perceive the physical state of the environment, but also the causal structures underlying the physical state. Determining whether an object has intentionality is a key component of this process. Among all possible intentions, the intention that has arguably been studied the most is chasing-often via a reasonably simple and stereotyped computer algorithm ("heat-seeking"). The current study investigated the perception of multiple types of chasing approaches and thus whether it is the intention of chasing that triggers the perception of chasing, whether the chasing agent and the agent being chased play equally important roles, and whether the perception of chasing requires the presence of both agents. We implemented a well-studied wolf chasing a sheep paradigm where participants viewed recordings of a disc (the wolf) chasing another disc (the sheep) among other distracting discs. We manipulated the types of chasing algorithms, the density of the distractors, the target agent in the task, and the presence of the agent being chased. We found that the participants could successfully identify the chasing agent in all conditions where both agents were present, albeit with different levels of performance (e.g., participants were best at detecting the chasing agent when the chasing agent engaged in a direct chasing strategy and were worst at detecting a human-controlled chasing agent). This work therefore extends our understanding of the types of cues that are and are not utilized by the visual system to detect the chasing intention.
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spelling doaj.art-81b7434e4e094d3cbb56a057227c68ff2023-04-26T05:31:44ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-01184e028448510.1371/journal.pone.0284485Realistic and complex visual chasing behaviors trigger the perception of intentionality.Mohan JiEmily J WardC Shawn GreenWe not only perceive the physical state of the environment, but also the causal structures underlying the physical state. Determining whether an object has intentionality is a key component of this process. Among all possible intentions, the intention that has arguably been studied the most is chasing-often via a reasonably simple and stereotyped computer algorithm ("heat-seeking"). The current study investigated the perception of multiple types of chasing approaches and thus whether it is the intention of chasing that triggers the perception of chasing, whether the chasing agent and the agent being chased play equally important roles, and whether the perception of chasing requires the presence of both agents. We implemented a well-studied wolf chasing a sheep paradigm where participants viewed recordings of a disc (the wolf) chasing another disc (the sheep) among other distracting discs. We manipulated the types of chasing algorithms, the density of the distractors, the target agent in the task, and the presence of the agent being chased. We found that the participants could successfully identify the chasing agent in all conditions where both agents were present, albeit with different levels of performance (e.g., participants were best at detecting the chasing agent when the chasing agent engaged in a direct chasing strategy and were worst at detecting a human-controlled chasing agent). This work therefore extends our understanding of the types of cues that are and are not utilized by the visual system to detect the chasing intention.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284485
spellingShingle Mohan Ji
Emily J Ward
C Shawn Green
Realistic and complex visual chasing behaviors trigger the perception of intentionality.
PLoS ONE
title Realistic and complex visual chasing behaviors trigger the perception of intentionality.
title_full Realistic and complex visual chasing behaviors trigger the perception of intentionality.
title_fullStr Realistic and complex visual chasing behaviors trigger the perception of intentionality.
title_full_unstemmed Realistic and complex visual chasing behaviors trigger the perception of intentionality.
title_short Realistic and complex visual chasing behaviors trigger the perception of intentionality.
title_sort realistic and complex visual chasing behaviors trigger the perception of intentionality
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284485
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