Early integration of form and motion in the neural response to biological motion

Abstract

Although configuration is important for the perception of biological motion, it is not known whether the processing of configuration occurs early or subsequent to local motion processing. Here we report significantly greater adaptation of the N1 event-related potential elicited by a point-light walker (PLW) following an intact PLW relative to a scrambled PLW, static intact PLW, or no adaptation. These results indicate that the N1 to biological motion reflects the activity of a neural population involved in the early integration of form and motion, suggesting that configuration is processed at the same time as, or prior to, local motion.