Previous research has demonstrated that perceived self-motion can be manipulated by the relation between optic flow rate and walking rate. Other studies have revealed that verbal reports of perceived distance are influenced by the energy that would be expended to traverse the distance in question. In an effort to integrate these findings, we investigated how action-based distance judgments are influenced by multimodally specified energy expenditure (MSEE)-the metabolic cost associated with traversing an optically specified distance-using a virtual-reality treadmill environment. The energy expenditure associated with walking, measured as the volume of oxygen consumed, was manipulated by changing treadmill speed or grade. Optically specified distance was manipulated by changing the virtual optic flow rate. All three manipulations of MSEE (walking rate, grade, and optic flow rate) influenced distance reports in the predicted directions and to equivalent degrees. decoupled optical information about forward self-motion from actual walking rate (and thus from proprioceptive information about forward motion) by having participants walk on a treadmill towed by a tractor. When the treadmill speed was slower than the tractor speed (optic flow suggested faster walking), participants underestimated a target distance when later asked to blind-walk it. Likewise, participants overestimated when the treadmill speed was faster than the tractor speed. This result was explained in terms of visuomotor calibration between optical and proprioceptive information about self-motion. KeywordsOther nonoptical influences on distance reports resist visuomotor calibration explanations. Energy expenditure influences prospective (verbal) distance reports even when environmental (i.e., optical) cues remain constant (Proffitt et al.,

From a psychological perspective, Cass R. Sunstein's 2016 book The Ethics of Influence is an insightful examination of the ethics of using social and cognitive psychological principles to influence behavior and decision-making. The United States has been experiencing what can only be described as an obesity epidemic. Scientists know that this epidemic has been brought about in part by the prevailing choice architecture, which influences what we eat, how much we eat, and how little we exercise. From a public health perspective, the policy issue centers on how a democracy can employ a combination of bans, mandates, and nudges to reshape our dietary habits to combat obesity. In this article, I will address how policymakers must nudge and change the existing psychological and physical choice architecture to combat obesity. The obesity epidemic cannot be won solely by increasing taxes, mandates, and bans on certain food items as that infringes on the personal liberty, welfare, autonomy, and dignity of citizens.

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Passive frame theory is compatible with modern complexity theory and the idea that conflict drives the emergence of a novel structural organization. After describing new developmental data, we suggest that this conflict needs to be expanded to include not only conflict between action options, but also between action and perception.