{"id":43,"date":"2016-02-04T15:56:57","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T20:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/purpleperils\/?page_id=43"},"modified":"2016-02-04T15:57:51","modified_gmt":"2016-02-04T20:57:51","slug":"on-the-functions-of-stimuli-and-responses","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/purpleperils\/1954-1961\/on-the-functions-of-stimuli-and-responses\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Functions of Stimuli and Responses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Feb. 1961<\/p>\n<h3>On the Functions of Stimuli and Responses<\/h3>\n<p>J. J. Gibson, Cornell University<\/p>\n<h5>The World Wide Web distribution of James Gibson&#8217;s &#8220;Purple Perils&#8221; is for scholarly use with the understanding that Gibson did not intend them for publication. References to these essays must cite them explicitly as unpublished manuscripts. Copies may be circulated if this statement is included on each copy.<\/h5>\n<p>I. <strong>Functions of Stimulation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A. The <strong>arousing<\/strong> of activity (episodic stimulation)<br \/>\n&#8211; to initiate single reactions (&#8220;phasic&#8221; responses, both reflex and &#8220;voluntary&#8221;)<br \/>\n&#8211; to initiate trains of reaction (motivating of action)<br \/>\n&#8211; to arouse sense-perceptions (both simple and complex)<br \/>\nB. The <strong>maintaining<\/strong> of sequential activity (continuous stimulation)<br \/>\n&#8211; to sustain posture and equilibrium (&#8220;tonic&#8221; responses)<br \/>\n&#8211; to sustain continuous perception (orientation and awareness of the environment)<br \/>\nC. The <strong>control<\/strong> of sequential activity (feedback, or guidance of performance)<br \/>\n&#8211; of locomotion toward a goal (avoiding obstacles)<br \/>\n&#8211; of changing a feature of the environment (removing an obstacle)<br \/>\n&#8211; of constructing a new object (shelter, tool, etc.)<br \/>\n&#8211; of achieving a relation with another individual<br \/>\nD. The <strong>carrying of external information<\/strong> &#8211; to specify events (episodic stimulation)<br \/>\n&#8211; to specify permanent features of the environment<br \/>\n&#8211; to specify objects<br \/>\n&#8211; to specify other individuals, their actions, and expressions<\/p>\n<p>II. <strong>Functions of Response<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A. Stimulus exploration<br \/>\n&#8211; to produce <strong>optimal<\/strong> stimulation of receptors (focusing of retinal image, convergence, pupillary adjustment, sniffing odors, head-turning to sound, etc.)<br \/>\n&#8211; to select <strong>relevant<\/strong> stimulation (fixating of eyes, and other acts of attention)<br \/>\n&#8211; to obtain <strong>informative<\/strong> stimulation (head and eye-movements, exploratory manipulation, exploratory locomotion).<br \/>\nB. Performance<br \/>\n&#8211; to maintain postural equilibrium<br \/>\n&#8211; to move about the environment (goal attainment)<br \/>\n&#8211; to manipulate things (problem solving)<br \/>\n&#8211; to communicate by expression, voice, or otherwise (social problem solving)<br \/>\nC. Play<br \/>\n&#8211; to exercise a motor skill<br \/>\n&#8211; to exercise a social skill<br \/>\n&#8211; to exercise a &#8220;creative&#8221; skill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Feb. 1961 On the Functions of Stimuli and Responses J. J. Gibson, Cornell University The World Wide Web distribution of James Gibson&#8217;s &#8220;Purple Perils&#8221; is for scholarly use with the understanding that Gibson did not intend them for publication. References to these essays must cite them explicitly as unpublished manuscripts. Copies may be circulated if &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/purpleperils\/1954-1961\/on-the-functions-of-stimuli-and-responses\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;On the Functions of Stimuli and Responses&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001,"featured_media":0,"parent":15,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/purpleperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/purpleperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/purpleperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/purpleperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/purpleperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/purpleperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/purpleperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43\/revisions\/56"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/purpleperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/purpleperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}