General tau theory deals with the guidance of bodily movements. It was developed from work on
J. J. Gibson's notion of ecological invariants in the visual flow-field during a perception-in-action event, and subsequently generalised by David N. Lee in the late 1990s to an
amodal theory of
perceptuomotor control.
The theory considers the organism acting as a unified whole in dynamic relations with its environment, rather than conceiving of the organism as a complex mechanical device reducible into analysable parts. The theory is embedded in
ecological
Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...
thinking, paying attention to both organism and environment, and drawing information from their forms of interaction. It was developed by thinking about the relational, or ecological invariants in engagements between organism and environment. This whole-systems approach offers insight into the nature of living and offers pragmatic, human benefits in both designing the constructed world (e.g. in cockpit design) and in therapy of movement disorders (e.g. Parkinson's disease).
References
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External links
Perception Movement Action Research Consortium
Related
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Tau_effect The tau effect is a spatial perceptual illusion that arises when observers judge the distance between consecutive stimuli in a stimulus sequence. When the distance from one stimulus to the next is constant, and the time elapsed from one stimulus to ...
Motor skills