Interaction between feature binding in perception and action

To explain how coherent representations can be formed of information that is distributed throughout the brain, binding mechanisms have been hypothesized that temporarily hold together or bind such distributed information. Evidence of temporary feature binding has been reported from tasks requiring perceptual integration and action planning, and there is some evidence that action planning affects perception. The present study provides further evidence that binding-related effects cross borders between perceptual and motor domains by demonstrating that perceptual integration affects action planning. Results from 3 psychophysical experiments suggest that if a particular perceptual feature is bound into an object representation, it is less accessible for concurrent action planning. Furthermore, our results support the idea that the formation of object representations goes through two phases: feature activation and feature integration. Feature sharing between perception and action is beneficial during the feature activation, but leads to mutual interferences in feature integration. Wider implications of these findings are discussed, especially with regard to feature binding as a general mechanism of cognitive representation as well as the relationship between perception and action.