Exercise PA • Perception & Action

Name:____________________________

Published

March 31, 2026

Modified

March 26, 2026

Goals

  1. To more deeply understand the specific actions associated with some internal state or behavior and the perceptual information that influences that state or behavior.
  2. To explore whether focusing on perceptual information or actions sheds light on the interplay among them, especially when thinking about internal mental states.

Activity

Choose a behavior that interests you or an internal psychological state. In a short 3-5 pp essay, describe the following:

  • The externally measurable or observable actions that characterize the behavior or state.
  • The main sources of perceptual information that influence or regulate the behavior or state.
Note

Try to describe more than one source of perceptual information, for example, vision plus auditory.

Draw a flow diagram that shows how information might flow from perceptual input to action output. To the best of your ability, annotate your flow diagram with specific nervous system structures or pathways that are likely to map to the conceptual diagram.

Is the behavior or internal state regulated in some way? In other words, does perceptual information alter the intensity or character of the behavior or state? If so how?

Does taking a perception/processing/action perspective inform understanding about the behavior or state in particular ways?

Similarly, how does capturing the information flows in a diagram shed light on the behavior or state?

Submission details

  • Submit your write-up by 2026-02-12 via the Canvas dropbox.
  • If you work with other people, please indicate the name(s) of your co-authors in your document. You need not include them in the document file name, however.
  • Always use page numbers, double-spacing, and APA citation format.
  • While variations are acceptable, the 5 paragraph essay format is a good choice here. Make sure that your paper makes a specific claim or argument in a thesis sentence contained in your introduction and that you restate your thesis in a concluding paragraph.
  • If you found any resources that were especially useful to you in answering these questions, please cite them.