The role of oculomotor coordination in affordance

Recently Ellis and Tucker (2000) proposed that “micro-affordances” are a consequence of object-based attention. Behavioural studies on affordances typically use asymmetrical common-use objects. To study affordance aside from the asymmetrical confound, we used a new symmetrical object (8-shaped object) whose orientation was manipulated to get the graspable part closer to participants’ hands or eyes. In Experiment 1 the entire object was coloured, in Experiment 2, only the central part of the object was. Participants (adults and children) answered according to the colours by pressing one of two lateralized keys. We had expected affordance effect for both the objects and groups, however, no effect arose in Experiment 1, maybe because attention was devoted over the whole object. In Experiment 2, instead, both the groups showed the effect but only for the graspable part close to participants' eyes and not for that close to their hand: children showed the effect for the lower part of the object, adults for the upper part of it. The result suggests that affordances are not automatic but task-dependent. Most importantly, they indicate that the ocular components plays a crucial role allowing the affordance to emerge.