Abstract
A number of EEG studies have investigated the time course of brain activation for biological movement over this last decade, however the temporal dynamics of processing are still debated. Moreover, the role of direction of movement has not received much attention even though it is an essential component allowing us to determine the intentions of the moving agent, and thus permitting the anticipation of potential social interactions.In this study, we examined event-related responses (ERPs) in 15 healthy human participants to light point walkers and their scrambled counterparts, whose movements occurred either in the radial or in the lateral plane. Compared to scrambled motion (SM), biological motion (BM) showed an enhanced negativity between 210 and 360ms. A source localization algorithm (sLORETA) revealed that this was due to an increase in superior and middle temporal lobe activity. Regarding direction, we found that radial BM produced an enhanced P1 compared to lateral BM, lateral SM and radial SM. This heightened P1 was due to an increase in activity in extrastriate regions, as well as in superior temporal, medial parietal and medial prefrontal areas. This network is known to be involved in decoding the underlying intentionality of the movement and in the attribution of mental states. The social meaning signaled by the direction of biological motion therefore appears to trigger an early response in brain activity.
Highlights
Biological motion (BM) has received much attention over the last decades and a number of studies have demonstrated that moving organisms are processed rapidly and efficiently
Subsequent findings suggested that this effect was due at least partly to specific patterns of movement occurring in the lower portions of the point light walkers [13], others have pointed out that top down factors such social anxiety affect the viewers’ perception of an in-depth walker [11,12], illustrating the importance of considering BM not just from its visual perspective, and in terms of its social significance
Sustained negative potential until almost 400ms that was more marked for biological compared to scrambled motion
Summary
Biological motion (BM) has received much attention over the last decades and a number of studies have demonstrated that moving organisms are processed rapidly and efficiently. Rather than being distributed as could be expected, frontal views of point-light walkers are more often perceived as walking towards the viewer [8], and even more so if the walkers are male [9,10]. This so-called facing bias, it has been argued, may result from the fact that an approaching walker is socially and biologically relevant, and the cost of not detecting an approaching walker is higher than that of missing a walker oriented in another direction [9,11,12], if the walker constitutes a potential threat. Subsequent findings suggested that this effect was due at least partly to specific patterns of movement occurring in the lower portions of the point light walkers [13], others have pointed out that top down factors such social anxiety affect the viewers’ perception of an in-depth walker [11,12], illustrating the importance of considering BM not just from its visual perspective, and in terms of its social significance
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