Return to search

Attention Capture by Animate Motion is Modulated by Physical and Subjectively-perceived Animacy

Previous research on animate motion perception indicates that animacy detection may be an evolutionarily developed mechanism of the visual system, responsible for adaptive alerting to other organisms in the environment. The present study further examined previously described attention capture by animate motion, and explored whether capture may be modulated by type of animacy (e.g., human motion vs. other animacy). The link between subjective animacy experience and perceptual processing was also examined. Results suggested that attention capture by animacy extends to situations in which animate motion is self-relevant. Animate motion entering the observer’s visual field captured attention relative to motion leaving out of the visual field. Subjective ratings of animacy experience also reliably predict reaction time in perceptual/attention tasks. Implications for theories of social cognition and higher order processing of agency are discussed.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OTU.1807/31627
Date04 January 2012
CreatorsWhite, Nicole
ContributorsAnderson, Adam K., Pratt, Jay
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
Languageen_ca
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis

Page generated in 0.0018 seconds