Abstract
This eye tracking study investigated the degree to which biological motion information from manual point-light displays provides sufficient information to elicit anticipatory eye movements. We compared gaze performance of adults observing a biological motion point-light display of a hand reaching for a goal object or a non-biological version of the same event. Participants anticipated the goal of the point-light action in the biological motion condition but not in a non-biological control condition. The present study demonstrates that kinematic information from biological motion can be used to anticipate the goal of other people’s point-light actions and that the presence of biological motion is sufficient for anticipation to occur.
Highlights
When observing another person performing an action, humans typically fixate the goal of the action before it is completed (Flanagan and Johansson, 2003; Falck-Ytter et al, 2006; Rotman et al, 2006)
This eye tracking study investigated the degree to which adult observers are able to anticipate the goal of a manual reaching action, represented as a PL display, as well as whether conscious recognition of the observed PL action is required for anticipatory eye movements to occur
In line with the biological motion hypothesis of action anticipation, participants anticipated the goal in a biological motion PL display but not in a non-biological control condition
Summary
When observing another person performing an action, humans typically fixate the goal of the action before it is completed (Flanagan and Johansson, 2003; Falck-Ytter et al, 2006; Rotman et al, 2006). Humans are able to detect actions within PL displays and to categorize observed kinematic representations of human actions based on walking patterns, gender, and emotions (Troje, 2002) These findings demonstrate that humans are highly sensitive to biological motion and that their tendency to anticipate others’ action goals seems to be linked to seeing humans act on objects (for alternative processes that might impact goal processing without necessarily relating to anticipatory goal-directed gaze shifts see Southgate et al, 2008; Ramsey and Hamilton, 2010; for a review see van Overwalle and Baetens, 2009)
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