19. Model-Based Control of PerceptionIAction

The coupling of perception and action in humans and other species is one of the major questions in cognitive science and neuroscience. The empirical domain of perceptionlaction includes reaching and grasping, skilled use of tools, visual control of locomotion (e.g., driving and flying), dance, and individual and team sports. Understanding of perceptionlaction in the human requires research on perceptual and cognitive representations of 3-D space, internal representation of the body, motor control of the limbs and effectors, and internalization of vehicle dynamics. Like many others in the field, we believe that research on perceptionlaction will advance more quickly in the future by giving greater emphasis to active control tasks over simple psychophysical judgments and by studying skilled actions of moderate complexity, like driving and sport activity, instead of the stripped down tasks of the past that have permitted experimental rigor at the cost of failing to engage many of the perceptual, cognitive, and motor processes involved in complex action.