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Abstract:
Visual perception of apparent motion can result from the
sequential presentation of static objects in different spatial
locations. The traditional explanation of this phenomenon is that
the visual system is biased toward selecting the simplest
interpretation of the image, or seeing the most direct path of
movement. However, when images of human figures are alternately
presented, observers' perceptual preference for seeing the most
direct path of apparent motion is sometimes overridden by a
preference to perceive biologically possible human action. Here,
positron emission tomography (PET) was used to investigate whether
a change in brain activity accompanies this perceptual shift.
Indeed, only perceptions of biologically possible paths were found
to activate motor and parietal cortex. Our result demonstrate that
1) the neural encoding of apparent motion is dependent on the
intrinsic properties of the path perceived, and 2) motor executive
region activation is limited to cases in which the action perceived
is humanly possible.
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