Abstract
Usain Bolt’s Lightning Bolt pose, one arm highly extended to one side, suggests action. Likewise, static pictures of animals, legs extended, show animation. We tested a new cue for motion perception—extension—and in particular extension of dancer’s legs. An experiment with pictures of a dancer finds larger angles between the legs suggest greater movement, especially with in-air poses and in lateral views. Leg positions graded from simply standing to very difficult front and side splits. Liking ratings (a small range) were more related to Difficulty ratings (a large range) than Movement ratings (a moderate range).
Highlights
Edited by: Takahiro Kawabe, NTT Communication Science Laboratories, JapanReviewed by: Andrea Orlandi, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy Luca Battaglini, University of Padua, ItalySpecialty section: This article was submitted to Perception Science, a section of the journal Frontiers in PsychologyReceived: 06 May 2021 Accepted: 08 November 2021Published: 04 January 2022Citation: Mastandrea S and Kennedy JM (2022) Extension of Dancer’s Legs: Increasing Angles Show Motion.Front
In this study we investigate if leg angles—limb spread— have implications for motion
Movement and Difficulty were influenced greatly by leg angle, and Liking less, and In-air scores were higher than On-ground, with Lateral In-air scores especially high
Summary
Edited by: Takahiro Kawabe, NTT Communication Science Laboratories, JapanReviewed by: Andrea Orlandi, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy Luca Battaglini, University of Padua, ItalySpecialty section: This article was submitted to Perception Science, a section of the journal Frontiers in PsychologyReceived: 06 May 2021 Accepted: 08 November 2021Published: 04 January 2022Front. Though it is static, Usain Bolt’s Lightning Bolt pose, one arm highly extended to one side, suggests vigorous action. In pictures of people and animals, leg spread may suggest animation. Admired poses in profile and frontal view suggest motion. The further a horse spreads its legs, the speedier it seems, but observers deem the flying gallop unrealistic (Mastandrea and Kennedy, 2018). The pictorial devices activate motionsensitive cortex (Kourtzi and Kanwisher, 2000; Cattaneo et al, 2015), and in a study on observers examining photographs of human actions, implied motion increased cortical activation (Proverbio et al, 2009). A cortical AON or action observation network is thought to be triggered by static images and might be related to the observer’s own skills (Orlandi et al, 2020b)
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