| Popis: |
The actualization of action possibilities (or affordances) can often be accomplished in numerous, equifinal ways. For instance, an individual could walk over to a rubbish bin to drop an item in or throw the piece of rubbish into the bin from some distance away. The aim of the current study was to investigate the behavioral dynamics arising from such metastable task-spaces using a ball-to-bin transportation task. Participants were instructed to transport balls from a starting area to a bin located 9 meters away. Time interval between the sequential presentation of 52 balls was manipulated as a control parameter and was expected to push participants through different behavioral modes (i.e. the degree to which participants modulated the distance moved prior to throwing or dropping the ball into the target bin). As expected, the results revealed a large degree of within and between participant variability in task actualization. To better understand how this behavioral variability emerged as a function of task constraints, a two-parameter task manifold was devised using the Cusp Catastrophe Model. Simulations demonstrated that this two parameter state manifold can not only effectively capture the wide range of participant behaviors observed, but also explains how these behaviors are an emergent consequence of under-constrained task goals. |
