People make simple physical inferences by acting on objects.
They might, for example, tilt a container to determine its chances of spilling. Five experiments examined whether people can also draw physical inferences by taking simulated actions. The basic experimental task involved 2 glasses of different widths but equal heights. People imagined that the glasses were filled to the same level with water and answered whether they would spill at the same or different angles. These experiments dissociated simulated actions from both propositional inferences and visual imagery.