A Model of Biological Motion Perception from Configural Form Cues

TLDR

Biological motion perception enables rapid recognition of complex human movements and engages a widespread brain network, with the superior temporal sulcus playing a key role while the contributions of other regions remain uncertain. The study introduces a neurally plausible computational model to clarify how motion and form signals contribute to biological motion perception and the underlying brain network computations. The model simulates static human body receptive fields and temporally integrates their responses using leaky integrator neurons. The model shows strong agreement with neurophysiological, neuroimaging, and psychophysical data.

Abstract

Biological motion perception is the compelling ability of the visual system to perceive complex human movements effortlessly and within a fraction of a second. Recent neuroimaging and neurophysiological studies have revealed that the visual perception of biological motion activates a widespread network of brain areas. The superior temporal sulcus has a crucial role within this network. The roles of other areas are less clear. We present a computational model based on neurally plausible assumptions to elucidate the contributions of motion and form signals to biological motion perception and the computations in the underlying brain network. The model simulates receptive fields for images of the static human body, as found by neuroimaging studies, and temporally integrates their responses by leaky integrator neurons. The model reveals a high correlation to data obtained by neurophysiological, neuroimaging, and psychophysical studies.