ABSTRACT
Epistemic actions are physical actions people take more to simplify their internal problem-solving processes than to bring themselves closer to an external goal. Consider how when playing the video game Tetris, experts routinely rotate falling two-dimensional shapes more than is necessary to place the shapes. One reason for such apparently unnecessary actions is that they actually help the player make placement decisions. Such actions might facilitate placement decisions if additional previews of the shape afforded by rotating it provide information about the board, particularly when there is no direct perceptual match between the shape and the board at the time of decision. The study presented here tests the hypothesis that several distinct previews of a two-dimensional shape can improve a person’s ability to recognize and use that shape when it is not correctly oriented at the time of decision. Results show that indeed task performance and recognition are faster with two different orientations than with only one. Thus, it is possible that Tetris players rotate two-dimensional Tetris shapes manually to see them in more than one orientation, as this can lead to faster decisions.
