Biological motion

Sometimes referred to as biomechanics motion, it is perception of the motion of independent stimulus elements as part of a moving human or animal figure, as when luminous dots are placed on a walking person and recorded in isolation (i.e., as point-light displays).  In particular,the human visual system is very apt at recognising many aspects of biological, psychological, and social significance in animate motion, suggesting that motion has priority in vision.  For example, human motion conveys a wealth of information about the actions, intentions, emotions, and personality traits of a person.  How we manage to do this still remains something of a puzzle (i.e., how biological and psychological information is detected in visual motion patterns).  One of the issues not entirely resolved is the informational content in point-light displays that enables us to use biological motion in this way.  Much of the original work on this topic is due to the work Gunnar Johansson in the 1970s that he first published in 1973.

See Motion perception, Perception, Point-light display