Development of visual perception of others’ actions: Children’s judgment of lifted weight

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 14; no. 11; p. e0224979
• Main Authors: Sciutti, Alessandra, Patanè, Laura, Sandini, Giulio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 15.11.2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Actors; Adult; Adults; Age; Biology and Life Sciences; Child; Childhood; Children; Female; Humans; Judgment; Kinematics; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Objectives; People and Places; Physical Sciences; Professional basketball; Robotics; Skills; Social Sciences; Visual perception; Visual Perception - physiology; Weight; Weight Lifting; Italy
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0224979

Humans are excellent at perceiving different features of the actions performed by others. For instance, by viewing someone else manipulating an unknown object, one can infer its weight-an intrinsic feature otherwise not directly accessible through vision. How such perceptual skill develops during childhood remains unclear. To confront this gap, the current study had children (N:63, 6-10 years old) and adults (N:21) judge the weight of objects after observing videos of an actor lifting them. Although 6-year-olds could already discriminate different weights, judgment accuracy had not reached adult-like levels by 10 years of age. Additionally, children's stature was a more reliable predictor of their ability to read others' actions than was their chronological age. This paper discusses the results in light of a potential link between motor development and action perception.