How body knowledge shapes motion perception

Abstract Human motion perception is crucial for social interactions. There is evidence that this perception is influenced by the knowledge of our body and its range of movement. We run two experiments to understand how robust this influence can be. First, we compared human and clock hand motion perc...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sara Parmigiani, Alice Rossi Sebastiano, Marcella Romeo, Luigi Cattaneo, Francesca Garbarini, Corrado Sinigaglia
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-05-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-00213-0
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850132768540852224
author Sara Parmigiani
Alice Rossi Sebastiano
Marcella Romeo
Luigi Cattaneo
Francesca Garbarini
Corrado Sinigaglia
author_facet Sara Parmigiani
Alice Rossi Sebastiano
Marcella Romeo
Luigi Cattaneo
Francesca Garbarini
Corrado Sinigaglia
author_sort Sara Parmigiani
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Human motion perception is crucial for social interactions. There is evidence that this perception is influenced by the knowledge of our body and its range of movement. We run two experiments to understand how robust this influence can be. First, we compared human and clock hand motion perception through an apparent motion paradigm. Second, we used a masked priming paradigm to explore how unconscious processes affect motion perception. While the clock hand rotations were generally perceived as clockwise, the human hands were perceived as rotating clockwise and counterclockwise, and their perception was predominantly aligned with biomechanical constraints. The main finding was that this alignment persisted under visual priming for human hands but not for clock hands. The priming effect was significantly reduced when the primed direction conflicted with biomechanically possible hand movements. This suggests that body knowledge shapes motion perception, with this effect proving highly robust.
format Article
id doaj-art-8fa4da59a06e41fe917f0be22aead665
institution OA Journals
issn 2045-2322
language English
publishDate 2025-05-01
publisher Nature Portfolio
record_format Article
series Scientific Reports
spelling doaj-art-8fa4da59a06e41fe917f0be22aead6652025-08-20T02:32:08ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-05-0115111110.1038/s41598-025-00213-0How body knowledge shapes motion perceptionSara Parmigiani0Alice Rossi Sebastiano1Marcella Romeo2Luigi Cattaneo3Francesca Garbarini4Corrado Sinigaglia5Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Stanford University Medical CenterMANIBUS Lab, Psychology Department, Università Degli Studi Di TorinoMANIBUS Lab, Psychology Department, Università Degli Studi Di TorinoCIMeC - Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, Università Degli Studi Di TrentoMANIBUS Lab, Psychology Department, Università Degli Studi Di TorinoCognition in Action (CIA) Unit, PHILABAbstract Human motion perception is crucial for social interactions. There is evidence that this perception is influenced by the knowledge of our body and its range of movement. We run two experiments to understand how robust this influence can be. First, we compared human and clock hand motion perception through an apparent motion paradigm. Second, we used a masked priming paradigm to explore how unconscious processes affect motion perception. While the clock hand rotations were generally perceived as clockwise, the human hands were perceived as rotating clockwise and counterclockwise, and their perception was predominantly aligned with biomechanical constraints. The main finding was that this alignment persisted under visual priming for human hands but not for clock hands. The priming effect was significantly reduced when the primed direction conflicted with biomechanically possible hand movements. This suggests that body knowledge shapes motion perception, with this effect proving highly robust.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-00213-0Motion perceptionBody knowledgeApparent motionVisual priming
spellingShingle Sara Parmigiani
Alice Rossi Sebastiano
Marcella Romeo
Luigi Cattaneo
Francesca Garbarini
Corrado Sinigaglia
How body knowledge shapes motion perception
Scientific Reports
Motion perception
Body knowledge
Apparent motion
Visual priming
title How body knowledge shapes motion perception
title_full How body knowledge shapes motion perception
title_fullStr How body knowledge shapes motion perception
title_full_unstemmed How body knowledge shapes motion perception
title_short How body knowledge shapes motion perception
title_sort how body knowledge shapes motion perception
topic Motion perception
Body knowledge
Apparent motion
Visual priming
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-00213-0
work_keys_str_mv AT saraparmigiani howbodyknowledgeshapesmotionperception
AT alicerossisebastiano howbodyknowledgeshapesmotionperception
AT marcellaromeo howbodyknowledgeshapesmotionperception
AT luigicattaneo howbodyknowledgeshapesmotionperception
AT francescagarbarini howbodyknowledgeshapesmotionperception
AT corradosinigaglia howbodyknowledgeshapesmotionperception