Four types of manipulability ratings and naming latencies for a set of 560 photographs of objects

• Published in: Behavior research methods Vol. 47; no. 2; pp. 443 - 470
• Main Authors: Guérard, Katherine, Lagacé, Sébastien, Brodeur, Mathieu B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-06-2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Behavioral Science and Psychology; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive Psychology; Hand Strength; Humans; Manipulation; Norms; Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology; Psychology; Psychomotor Performance; Psychophysiology - methods; Ratings & rankings; Recognition (Psychology); Reference Values; Researchers; Semantics; Task Performance and Analysis; Norms; Objects; Manipulability; Naming latencies
• ISSN: 1554-3528; 1554-3528
• DOI: 10.3758/s13428-014-0488-5

The role of objects’ motor affordances in cognition is a topic that has gained in popularity over the last decades. However, few studies exist that have normed the different motor dimensions of the objects; this limits researchers regarding usable stimuli, as well as comparability between studies. In the present study, we normed a set of 560 objects on four motor dimensions: the ease with which they can be grasped, moved, and pantomimed and the number of actions they afford. We then examined whether these four dimensions predict objects’ naming latency. We believe that these norms will allow researchers interested in the role of motor affordances to have a better control over the dimensions they want to manipulate.