brightly colored food

Killing time waiting for class to start, I’m reading a book on visual perception. It’s covering J.J. Gibson’s theories about perception, which revolve around what he called “affordances” - yep, the same ones Don Norman writes about. Don Norman has two good articles that clarify and extend the use of the term for the design realm, and they’re both worth a read. Another article on affordances in software design discusses in more detail why interface elements are “perceived affordances” rather than “real affordances”, an important distinction. Sorta makes you wonder about the perceptual advantages for tangible computing interfaces - does anyone know of research in this area? Also, Gibon’s work on affordances came out in the late 70’s. Does anyone with more of a background in cognitive or neuroscience know if/how his theories have been updated?

Here is a selection of quotes from Gibson and others about affordances. Gibson’s take on affordances as being crucial to visual perception, and the emphasis on the relationship between the viewer and the object that’s perceived as having an affordance, especially when considered with the surrounding context, set him apart from most others who’ve studied visual perception, almost to the philosophical level - read the quote from Abram toward at the bottom. Here’s some related info on information pickup theory, the general theory of perception that affordances are based upon. And if you really want to keep dorking out, here’s a google search on gibson and affordances.