Distributed Perception: Co‐Operation between Sense‐Able, Actionable, and Accountable Semiotic Agents

Abstract

Perception is not just a cognitive, private experience, but achieved in and through interactive and practical actions in co‐operation with other semiotic agents. This article contributes to work on multisensory perception that is distributed as an interactional phenomenon between agents. Based on video‐ethnographic research conducted among visually impaired people, and an ethnomethodological, conversation‐analytical framework, the article contributes findings about the most basic sensory characteristics of distributed perception: co‐operation between sense‐able, action‐able, accountable semiotic agents that can communicate multisensorial information in order to solve situated and emerging problems together.

Hybrid Movement Training During the Pandemic: A Clash Between Physical and Digital Realm

“…So far, I mainly talked about how online and studio participants' individual experiences differ in perceptual level. Yet, it is essential to mention that perception is not a private experience but occurs and operates through practical actions within the interpersonal realm (Due 2021).…”

“…What happens here is not simply we copy what others do. The phenomenon of 'distributed perception' (Due 2021), described by Brain L. Due, provides an interesting perspective on what the participant describes as sub-information, social stress or collective unconsciousness at the perceptual level. For Due, perception may be distributed, practical, and publicly recognisable by other agents (Due 2021).…”

“…The phenomenon of 'distributed perception' (Due 2021), described by Brain L. Due, provides an interesting perspective on what the participant describes as sub-information, social stress or collective unconsciousness at the perceptual level. For Due, perception may be distributed, practical, and publicly recognisable by other agents (Due 2021). It means that sensory information provided by others' actions in certain situations creates a perceptual field; within the same situation, we rely on this perceptual field created by others to construct our actions.…”

“…Switching from touch to gaze to keep interaction probably happened without consciously reflecting on it, which corresponds to 'optimal grip' (Merleau- Ponty, 2002;Dreyfus, 1996). It is also interesting to think about the incident in terms of the 'distributed perceptual field' (Due, 2021) that I mentioned in the previous chapter. Touch is one of the unique simultaneous reciprocal senses.…”

The situated deployment of the Italian presentative (e) hai. . ., ‘(and) you have. . .’ within routinized multimodal Gestalts in route mapping with visually impaired climbers

“…Intercorporeality is particularly useful to understand sense-making in interactional contexts where participants are involved in joint embodied tasks and co-engaged with the material environment, such as in sports (Meyer and Wedelstaedt, 2017). Also, previous literature shows that intercorporeality is crucial to practices of co-operative perception (Due, 2021) with participants with vision impairment especially in the context of mobile activities such as hiking (Macpherson, 2012) and paraclimbing (Simone, 2021). As illustrated by earlier analysis of this setting, sensory cooperation between the visually impaired athletes and their guides rests particularly on the participants tuning into each other’s multimodal actions.…”