Event perceptions
So how do we really experience the world around us, and events as they occur? As discrete units of experiences or as one flow of experience. In a recent paper in Psychologial Bulletin authors Jeffrey Sacks and colleagues suggest that we perceive and conceive of activity in terms of discrete events, and that the perception […]
So how do we really experience the world around us, and events as they occur? As discrete units of experiences or as one flow of experience. In a recent paper in Psychologial Bulletin authors Jeffrey Sacks and colleagues suggest that we perceive and conceive of activity in terms of discrete events, and that the perception of boundaries between events arises from ongoing perceptual processing. The elaboration of this view and accompanying consequences are laid out in this paper. Here we link to the abstract as well as the manuscript.
Event Perception: A Mind–Brain Perspective
Jeffrey M. Zacks, Nicole K. Speer, Khena M. Swallow, Todd S. Braver, and Jeremy R. Reynolds
People perceive and conceive of activity in terms of discrete events. Here the authors propose a theory according to which the perception of boundaries between events arises from ongoing perceptual processing and regulates attention and memory. Perceptual systems continuously make predictions about what will happen next. When transient errors in predictions arise, an event boundary is perceived. According to the theory, the perception of events depends on both sensory cues and knowledge structures that represent previously learned information about event parts and inferences about actors’ goals and plans. Neurological and neurophysiological data suggest that representations of events may be implemented by structures in the lateral prefrontal cortex and that perceptual prediction error is calculated and evaluated by a processing pathway, including the anterior cingulate cortex and subcortical neuromodulatory systems.
Full manuscript (PDF)
