Walking Perception by Walking Observers
poit-light walking pattern. Not sure I will read it, but sounds
intriguing.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance
Volume 31, Issue 1
,
February 2005,
Pages 157-169
Walking Perception by Walking Observers
Alissa Jacobs and Maggie Shiffrar
People frequently analyze the actions of other people for the
purpose of action coordination. To understand whether such
self-relative action perception differs from other-relative action
perception, the authors had observers either compare their own walking
speed with that of a point-light walker or compare the walking speeds
of 2 point-light walkers. In Experiment 1, observers walked, bicycled,
or stood while performing a gait-speed discrimination task. Walking
observers demonstrated the poorest sensitivity to walking speed,
suggesting that perception and performance of the same action alters
visual-motion processes. Experiments 2–6 demonstrated that the
processes used during self-relative and other-relative action
perception differ significantly in their dependence on observers’
previous motor experience, current motor effort, and potential for
action coordination. These results suggest that the visual analysis of
human motion during traditional laboratory studies can differ
substantially from the visual analysis of human movement under more
realistic conditions.