Bodily movement of approach is detected faster than that of receding

Abstract

The human visual system is efficient at detecting an approaching object. In detecting approaching human beings, bodily movement serves as a cue for the visual system to compute moving direction. On the basis of this knowledge, we hypothesized that bodily movement implying approach is detected faster than receding bodily movement even when only bodily movement is available as a clue to discerning motion direction. To examine this hypothesis, we conducted a visual search experiment in which participants searched for a point-light figure with approaching or receding walking movement. Results showed that an approaching point-light figure was detected faster than a receding one. This search asymmetry was eliminated when the figures were presented upside-down. These findings indicate the potency of bodily movement that implies approach in effectively capturing visuospatial attention.