Beyond vision
extending the scope of a sensorimotor account of perception
pp. 127-136
in: Andrew O. Martin (ed), Contemporary sensorimotor theory, Berlin, Springer, 2014Abstract
We examine the scope of some sensorimotor accounts of perception, and their application in developmental robotics. Current interest in sensorimotor theories, and the enactive paradigm, was stimulated by the seminal book The Embodied Mind by Varela, Thompson and Rosch (1991) [32]. However, both in this initial book and subsequently there has been much work on visual perception and less attention to other perceptual modalities. We suggest that the insights gained from an exploration of the visual domain need supplementing, and in some respects qualifying: some significant characteristics of vision do not hold for audition, in particular for the perception of speech. This leads into a discussion of the importance of integrating different perceptual modes, with particular reference to robots and human-robot interaction. We examine the effect of including audition in accounts of perception, and suggest that it makes sense to avoid the unnecessary straight jacket of a model based primarily on vision and touch alone. The sensorimotor approach can be extended to other perceptual modes.