Abstract The human environment is populated by a rich variety of material objects, from rocks, to spoons, to pocket calculators, to animals and people. To act on our surroundings effectively, we must apprehend these objects and anticipate their behaviour. Some of this task appears to be accomplished by perceptual mechanisms: a cup stands before us and we see its shape, colour and texture. Even in this case, however, perception goes beyond the immediately visible, for we appear to ‘see’ the complete cup, not just the surfaces reflecting light to our eyes. To act on the cup, moreover, we must apprehend object properties that are not obviously visible at all, such as the cup’s weight and centre of mass. As our encounters with objects become extended over time, object perception appears to become increasingly inferential in character.
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