Biological motion stimuli contain a great deal of information about the person and action depicted. Here, we extend the known range by showing that viewers can see which member of a pair of conversing actors is talking. Moreover, the ability varies with the emotional content of the conversation. The implications for social cognitive neuroscience are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BlakeRShiffrarM, 2007“Perception of human motion”Annual Review of Psychology5847–73
2.
ChartrandT LBarghJ A, 1999“The chameleon effect: the perception–behavior link and social interaction”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology76893–910
3.
ClarkeT JBradshawM FFieldD THampsonS ERoseD, 2005“The perception of emotion from body movement in point-light displays of interpersonal dialogue”Perception341171–1180
4.
de GelderB, 2006“Towards the neurobiology of emotional body language”Nature Reviews Neuroscience7242–249
5.
HeinGKnightR T, forthcoming “Superior temporal sulcus—it's my area: or is it?”Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
6.
JohanssonG, 1973“Visual perception of biological motion and a model for its analysis”Perception & Psychophysics14201–211
7.
KnoblichGThorntonI MGrosjeanMShiffrarM (Eds), 2006Human Body Perception from the Inside Out (New York: Oxford University Press)
8.
MarshK LRichardsonM JBaronR MSchmidtR C, 2006“Contrasting approaches to perceiving and acting with others”Ecological Psychology181–38
9.
McClaveE Z, 2000“Linguistic functions of head movements in the context of speech”Journal of Pragmatics32855–878
10.
RedcayE, 2008“The superior temporal sulcus performs a common function for social and speech perception: Implications for the emergence of autism”Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews32123–142
11.
RoseD, 2006Consciousness (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
12.
RoseDClarkeT JFieldD T, 2008“Low-level motion as a cue to speaker identification in point-light displays of interpersonal conversation”Perception37Supplement, 110–111
13.
SaxeRZiaoD-KKovaćsGPerrettD IKanwisherN, 2004“A region of right posterior superior temporal sulcus responds to observed intentional actions”Neuropsychologia421435–1446
14.
WachsmuthILenzenMKnoblichG (Eds), 2008Embodied Communication in Humans and Machines (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
15.
WuergerSMeyerGRutchsmannRGreenleeM, 2008“Neural correlates of audiovisual biological motion and speech processing”Perception37Supplement, 24
