Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics

The overarching goal of this special issue is to provide a dedicated space for empirical and review papers that advance the understanding of how cognition and action systems are integrated and operate synergistically. This knowledge of how humans efficiently interact and navigate in complex environments is vital for generating a comprehensive understanding of human behavior and will help shape the design of everyday objects and training and working environments.

It is evident that the products of our cognitive processes are expressed through our actions. Historically, the transformation of sensory inputs into action has been treated as a set of relatively unidirectional processing events with the results of low-level sensory and earlier perceptual processes informing higher-order cognitive processes until a decision is made to respond, at which point the action system receives its instructions. Given this compartmentalized approach, it may not be too surprising that there has been relatively little interaction between researchers in cognitive and motor domains. Thus, until recently, a deeper understanding of human behavior has been hindered because little attention has been paid to the broader context of action and how action processes are embedded in the larger canvas of visual attention, memory, learning, decision-making and interpersonal interaction.