The neural representation of body orientation and emotion from biological motion

The perception of human body orientation and emotion in others provides crucial insights into their intentions. While significant research has explored the brain's representation of body orientation and emotion processing, their possible combined representation remains less well understood. In...

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Main Authors: Shuaicheng Liu, Lu Yu, Jie Ren, Mingming Zhang, Wenbo Luo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-04-01
Series:NeuroImage
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105381192500165X
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author Shuaicheng Liu
Lu Yu
Jie Ren
Mingming Zhang
Wenbo Luo
author_facet Shuaicheng Liu
Lu Yu
Jie Ren
Mingming Zhang
Wenbo Luo
author_sort Shuaicheng Liu
collection DOAJ
description The perception of human body orientation and emotion in others provides crucial insights into their intentions. While significant research has explored the brain's representation of body orientation and emotion processing, their possible combined representation remains less well understood. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging was employed to investigate this issue. Participants were shown point-light displays and tasked with recognizing both body emotion and orientation. The analysis of functional activation revealed that the extrastriate body area encodesd emotion, while the precentral gyrus and postcentral gyrus encoded body orientation. Additionally, results from multivariate pattern analysis and representational similarity analysis demonstrated that the lingual gyrus, precentral gyrus, and postcentral gyrus played a critical role in processing body orientation, whereas the lingual gyrus and extrastriate body area were crucial for processing emotion. Furthermore, the commonality analysis found that the neural representations of emotion and body orientation in the lingual and precentral gyrus were not interacting, but rather competing. Lastly, a remarkable interaction between hemisphere and body orientation revealed in the connection analysis showed that the coupling between the inferior parietal lobule and the left precentral gyrus was more sensitive to a 90° body orientation, while the coupling between the inferior parietal lobule and the right precentral gyrus was sensitive to 0° and 45° body orientation. Overall, these findings suggest that the conflicted relationship between the neural representation of body orientation and emotion in LING and PreCG when point-light displays were shown, and the different hemispheres play different role in encoding different body orientations.
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spelling doaj-art-ffe0420247304ae39df63bc4a59ccbf72025-08-20T01:54:11ZengElsevierNeuroImage1095-95722025-04-0131012116310.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121163The neural representation of body orientation and emotion from biological motionShuaicheng Liu0Lu Yu1Jie Ren2Mingming Zhang3Wenbo Luo4Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian 116029, ChinaResearch Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian 116029, ChinaResearch Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian 116029, ChinaResearch Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian 116029, China; Corresponding authors at: Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, No. 850, Huanghe Road, Shahekou District, Dalian 116029, China.Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian 116029, China; Corresponding authors at: Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, No. 850, Huanghe Road, Shahekou District, Dalian 116029, China.The perception of human body orientation and emotion in others provides crucial insights into their intentions. While significant research has explored the brain's representation of body orientation and emotion processing, their possible combined representation remains less well understood. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging was employed to investigate this issue. Participants were shown point-light displays and tasked with recognizing both body emotion and orientation. The analysis of functional activation revealed that the extrastriate body area encodesd emotion, while the precentral gyrus and postcentral gyrus encoded body orientation. Additionally, results from multivariate pattern analysis and representational similarity analysis demonstrated that the lingual gyrus, precentral gyrus, and postcentral gyrus played a critical role in processing body orientation, whereas the lingual gyrus and extrastriate body area were crucial for processing emotion. Furthermore, the commonality analysis found that the neural representations of emotion and body orientation in the lingual and precentral gyrus were not interacting, but rather competing. Lastly, a remarkable interaction between hemisphere and body orientation revealed in the connection analysis showed that the coupling between the inferior parietal lobule and the left precentral gyrus was more sensitive to a 90° body orientation, while the coupling between the inferior parietal lobule and the right precentral gyrus was sensitive to 0° and 45° body orientation. Overall, these findings suggest that the conflicted relationship between the neural representation of body orientation and emotion in LING and PreCG when point-light displays were shown, and the different hemispheres play different role in encoding different body orientations.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105381192500165XBiological motionEmotionOrientationfMRIRSAMVPA
spellingShingle Shuaicheng Liu
Lu Yu
Jie Ren
Mingming Zhang
Wenbo Luo
The neural representation of body orientation and emotion from biological motion
NeuroImage
Biological motion
Emotion
Orientation
fMRI
RSA
MVPA
title The neural representation of body orientation and emotion from biological motion
title_full The neural representation of body orientation and emotion from biological motion
title_fullStr The neural representation of body orientation and emotion from biological motion
title_full_unstemmed The neural representation of body orientation and emotion from biological motion
title_short The neural representation of body orientation and emotion from biological motion
title_sort neural representation of body orientation and emotion from biological motion
topic Biological motion
Emotion
Orientation
fMRI
RSA
MVPA
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105381192500165X
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