Can activation of motor programs accelerate object detection in a visual search task?

 
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Abstract

The compatibility effect refers to the facilitation of responses when a motor program matches the affordance of an object. This study aimed to explore compatibility effect mechanisms within the context of classical visual search. Previous research had several limitations: motor programs were activated without a dominant hand, and more than one target stimulus could appear. In experiment 1, participants searched for a target stimulus that could be congruent or incongruent with an ongoing movement. Four types of movements were used: grasping/pinching with the palm downward/sideways. These corresponded to four categories of congruent objects. Results showed that objects affording grasping were prioritized during search, regardless of congruence with the performed movement. To determine whether this effect was driven by movement execution, experiment 2 was conducted. Participants did not perform any movements but searched for the same object categories. Again, graspable objects were found faster, confirming a general advantage for grasping-related stimuls. The results of two experiments showed that compatibility effect was not detected in visual search. The data obtained indicate a greater significance of the basic features of objects than knowledge of the mode of action. The results obtained cast doubt on the purely motor nature of the emergence of compatibility effect in tasks that do not involve interaction with a single object, but are aimed at analyzing the entire visual field. In particular, it is assumed that expectations about the number of targets and the category of objects play an important role in such tasks.

General Information

Keywords: compatibility effect, visual search, expectation formation, categorisation, motor programs

Journal rubric: Empirical and Experimental Research

Article type: scientific article

Funding. The research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant no. 20-78-10055-P.

Received 29.11.2024

Accepted

Published

For citation: Anufrieva, A.A., Gorbunova, E.S. (2025). Can activation of motor programs accelerate object detection in a visual search task?. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Psychology, 15(4), 684–701. (In Russ.). URL: https://psyjournals.ru/en/journals/vspu_psychology/archive/2025_n4/Anufrieva_Gorbunova (viewed: 03.03.2026)

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Information About the Authors

Anastasia A. Anufrieva, Junior Researcher, Laboratory of Cognitive Psychology of User of Digital Interfaces, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8541-0815, e-mail: aanufrieva@hse.ru

Elena S. Gorbunova, Candidate of Science (Psychology), Associate Professor, Head of Laboratory of Cognitive Psychology of Digital Interfaces User of School of Psychology,, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3646-2605, e-mail: gorbunovaes@gmail.com

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