Cite as:
Pavlova M, Staudt M, Sokolov A, Birbaumer N, Krägeloh-Mann I, 2002, "Perception and production of biological motion: a cross talk?" Perception 31 ECVP Abstract Supplement
Perception and production of biological motion: a cross talk?
M Pavlova, M Staudt, A Sokolov, N Birbaumer, I Krägeloh-Mann
Recent findings suggest that perception and production of biological motion share a common representational network. Here, we investigated whether biological motion perception is restricted by early disorders in production of body movement. Combining the simultaneous-masking paradigm with brain imaging, we assessed sensitivity to biological motion in former preterms (13 - 16 year olds, 27 - 34 weeks gestational age). The participants differed in their locomotion ability from normal to a complete walking disability. In the stimulus-known-exactly detection task, they judged the presence of the camouflaged point-light walker. Irrespective of an ability to produce movement, patients with similar extent of parieto-occipital periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) exhibit nearly the same sensitivity to biological motion. Sensitivity correlates negatively with the extent of PVL in the parieto-occipital complex, whereas neither the severity of motor impairment nor the extent of lesions along the pyramidal tract significantly relate to the sensitivity index. The findings suggest that perception of biological motion is not substantially affected by an observer's early restrictions in body movement. Instead, the findings favour the assumption that the common network for perception and production of biological motion might be inherent for the brain. Recording of task-driven magnetoencephalographic (MEG) brain activity provides further evidence for clarification of this issue.
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