Implied motion because of instability in Hokusai Manga activates the human motion-sensitive extrastriate visual cortex: an fMRI study of the impact of visual art

Motor strength as a feature of concepts and visual representations

In this article, we define motor strength as the extent to which a concept is associated with body movements and the motor system that guides body movements. We extend this notion to one of the features of visual representations of some concepts and discuss the role of the motor system in understanding concepts and visual representations that have a significant degree of motor strength. It is suggested that when a concept is understood in its literal sense, the employment of the motor system and gestures in processing that concept depends on its degree of motor strength. If a concept is understood in its metaphorical sense, the employment of the motor system and gestures is dependent on the degree of motor strength of the base of the metaphor through which that concept is understood. The degree of motor strength of a concept relies on its motor affordances and its associations with people's past experiences. Because the motor system plays an essential role in the grounding of many abstract concepts in the physical environment, the notion of motor strength can help psychologists acquire a clearer understanding of how concepts with varying degrees of motor strength are grounded in the physical environment.

Disrupted third visual pathway function in schizophrenia: Evidence from real and implied motion processing

Impaired motion perception in schizophrenia has been associated with deficits in social-cognitive processes and with reduced activation of visual sensory regions, including the middle temporal area (MT+) and posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS). These findings are consistent with the recent proposal of the existence of a specific 'third visual pathway' specialized for social perception in which motion is a fundamental component. The third visual pathway transmits visual information from early sensory visual processing areas to the STS, with MT+ acting as a critical intermediary. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate functioning of this pathway during processing of naturalistic videos with explicit (real) motion and static images with implied motion cues. These measures were related to face emotion recognition and motion-perception, as measured behaviorally. Participants were 28 individuals with schizophrenia (Sz) and 20 neurotypical controls. Compared to controls, individuals with Sz showed reduced activation of third visual pathway regions (MT+, pSTS) in response to both real- and implied-motion stimuli. Dysfunction of early visual cortex and pulvinar were also associated with aberrant real-motion processing. Implied-motion stimuli additionally engaged a wide network of brain areas including parietal, motor and frontal nodes of the human mirror neuron system. The findings support concepts of MT+ as a mediator between visual sensory areas and higher-order brain and argue for greater focus on MT+ contributions to social-cognitive processing, in addition to its well-documented role in visual motion processing.

How can transforming representation of mathematical entities help us employ more cognitive resources?

This article discusses the cognitive process of transforming one representation of mathematical entities into another representation. This process, which has been called mathematical metaphor, allows us to understand and embody a difficult-to-understand mathematical entity in terms of an easy-to-understand entity. When one representation of a mathematical entity is transformed into another representation, more cognitive resources such as the visual and motor systems can come into play to understand the target entity. Because of their nature, some curves, which are one group of visual representations, may have a great motor strength. It is suggested that directedness, straightness, length, and thinness are some possible features that determine degree of motor strength of a curve. Another possible factor that can determine motor strength of a curve is the strength of association between shape of the curve and past experiences of the observer (and her/his prior knowledge). If an individual has had the repetitive experience of observing objects moving along a certain curve, the shape of the curve may have a great motor strength for her/him. In fact, it can be said that some kind of metonymic relationship may be formed between the shapes of some curves and movement experiences.

Functional specificity and neural integration in the aesthetic appreciation of artworks with implied motion

Although there is growing interest in the neural foundations of aesthetic experience, it remains unclear how particular mental subsystems (e.g. perceptual, affective and cognitive) are involved in different types of aesthetic judgements. Here, we use fMRI to investigate the involvement of different neural networks during aesthetic judgements of visual artworks with implied motion cues. First, a behavioural experiment (N = 45) confirmed a preference for paintings with implied motion over static cues. Subsequently, in a preregistered fMRI experiment (N = 27), participants made aesthetic and motion judgements towards paintings representing human bodies in dynamic and static postures. Using functional region-of-interest and Bayesian multilevel modelling approaches, we provide no compelling evidence for unique sensitivity within or between neural systems associated with body perception, motion and affective processing during the aesthetic evaluation of paintings with implied motion. However, we show suggestive evidence that motion and body-selective systems may integrate signals via functional connections with a separate neural network in dorsal parietal cortex, which may act as a relay or integration site. Our findings clarify the roles of basic visual and affective brain circuitry in evaluating a central aesthetic feature-implied motion-while also pointing towards promising future research directions, which involve modelling aesthetic preferences as hierarchical interplay between visual and affective circuits and integration processes in frontoparietal cortex.

A Directional Congruency Effect of Amplified Dilated Time Perception Induced by Looming Stimuli With Implied Motion Cues

The perception of time is not veridical, but, rather, it is susceptible to environmental context, like the intrinsic dynamics of moving stimuli. The direction of motion has been reported to affect time perception such that movement of objects toward an observer (i.e., looming stimuli) is perceived as longer in duration than movement of objects away from the observer (i.e., receding stimuli). In the current study we investigated whether this looming/receding temporal asymmetry can be modulated by the direction of movement implied by static cues of images. Participants were presented with images of a running person, rendered from either the front or the back (i.e., representing movement toward or away from the observer). In Experiment 1, the size of the images was constant. In Experiment 2, the image sizes varied (i.e., increasing: looming; or decreasing: receding). In both experiments, participants performed a temporal bisection task by judging the duration of the image presentation as "short" or "long". In Experiment 1, we found no influence of implied-motion direction in the participants' duration perceptions. In Experiment 2, however, participants overestimated the duration of the looming, as compared to the receding image in relation to real motion. This finding replicated previous findings of the looming/receding asymmetry using naturalistic human-character stimuli. Further, in Experiment 2 we observed a directional congruency effect between real and implied motion; stimuli were perceived as lasting longer when the directions of real and implied motion were congruent versus when these directions were incongruent. Thus, looming (versus receding) movement, a perceptually salient stimulus, elicits differential temporal processing, and higher-order motion processing integrates signals of real and implied motion in time perception.

On the relation between perceived stability and aesthetic appreciation

Perceived stability is an important feature of pictures with respect to their aesthetic appreciation. Pictures whose composition is perceived as stable are usually liked more than those with unstable arrangements. However, there are exceptions. In a recent study, we found that unstable Japanese calligraphies were preferred to stable ones. From this result, we hypothesized that instability is liked when it implies movement. Therefore, we systematically tested these two types of instability. In our first experiment, we used multiple-element pictures of varying stability as stimuli and show that perceived instability has a negative effect on liking. In a second experiment, we used dynamic paintings by the artist K.O. Götz, which largely vary in implied movement. As expected, for these dynamic pictures, instability was positively related to liking. Taken together, our findings indicate that perceived instability reduces the aesthetical appreciation of a picture unless it implies movement.

The Disentangled Sub-Processes Involved in Implied Motion Contributing to Food Freshness: The Neural Evidence from ERPs

Implied motion can enhance the consumer’s judgment of food freshness. However, this enhancing effect has only been investigated for a few products. Furthermore, researchers have not conclusively determined whether the effects of the low-level visual sensory processing and high-level conceptual processing on food evaluation differ. In Experiment 1, using different fruits in static water (fruit_IS), fruit with implied moving water (fruit_IM), or only fruits as stimuli, we initially generalized the effect of implied motion on the broader category of fruit, and implied motion improved the perceived freshness of the fruit. In Experiment 2, we recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) and measured the temporal processes involved in the mechanism by which implied motion improved perceived fruit freshness. The behavioral results further supported the findings from Experiment 1. The ERP data revealed a pronounced positive difference between fruit_IM and fruit-only conditions recorded from posterior electrodes at approximately 200-300 ms (P2). This difference reflected the low-level visual implied motion sensory processing involved in the effect of implied motion on improving food freshness. Additionally, an early frontocentral negativity difference of approximately 300-500 ms between fruit_IM and fruit-only conditions was recorded, which reflected the high-level visual conceptual processing involved in the effect of implied motion on improving food freshness. These results strengthen and extend previous behavioral findings indicating that implied motion enhances the consumer’s judgment of food freshness across various food categories, and improves our understanding of the cognitive processes involved in the mechanism by which implied motion influences food judgments.

The role of character goals and changes in body position in the processing of events in visual narratives

BACKGROUND

A growing body of research is beginning to understand how people comprehend sequential visual narratives. However, previous work has used materials that primarily rely on visual information (i.e., they contain minimal language information). The current work seeks to address how visual and linguistic information streams are coordinated in sequential image comprehension. In experiment 1, participants viewed picture stories and engaged in an event segmentation task. The extent to which critical points in the narrative depicted situational continuity of character goals and continuity in bodily position was manipulated. The likelihood of perceiving an event boundary and viewing latencies at critical locations were measured. Experiment 1 was replicated in the second experiment, without the segmentation task. That is, participants read the picture stories without deciding where the event boundaries occurred.

RESULTS

Experiment 1 indicated that changes in character goals were associated with an increased likelihood of segmenting at the critical point, but changes in bodily position were not. A follow-up analysis, however, revealed that over the course of the entire story, changes in body position were a significant predictor of event segmentation. Viewing time, however, was affected by both goal and body position shifts. Experiment 2 corroborated the finding that viewing time was affected by changes in goals and body positions.

CONCLUSION

The current study shows that changes in body position influence a viewer's perception of event structure and event processing. This fits into a growing body of research that attempts to understand how consumers of multimodal media coordinate multiple information streams. The current study underscores the need for the systematic study of the visual, perceptual, and comprehension processes that occur during visual narrative understanding.

Move Still: The Effects of Implied and Real Motion on the Duration Estimates of Dance Steps

It has been argued that movement can be implied by static cues of images depicting an instance of a dynamic event. Instances of implied motion have been investigated as a special type of stimulus with common processing mechanisms to those of real motion. Timing studies have reported a lengthening of the perceived time for moving as opposed to static stimuli and for stimuli of higher as compared to lower amounts of implied motion. However, the actual comparison of real versus implied motion on timing has never been investigated. In the present study, we compared directly the effect of two hypothetically analogous ballet steps with different amounts of movement and static instances of the dynamic peak of these events in a reproduction task. The analysis revealed an overestimation and lower response variability for real as compared to implied motion stimuli. These findings replicate and extend the apparent duration lengthening for moving as compared to static stimulation, even for static images containing implied motion, questioning whether or not the previously reported correspondence between real and implied motion transfers in the timing domain. This lack of correspondence was further supported by the finding that the amount of movement presented affected only displays of real motion.

Understanding Moment-to-Moment Processing of Visual Narratives

What role do moment‐to‐moment comprehension processes play in visual attentional selection in picture stories? The current work uniquely tested the role of bridging inference generation processes on eye movements while participants viewed picture stories. Specific components of the Scene Perception and Event Comprehension Theory (SPECT) were tested. Bridging inference generation was induced by manipulating the presence of highly inferable actions embedded in picture stories. When inferable actions are missing, participants have increased viewing times for the immediately following critical image (Magliano, Larson, Higgs, & Loschky, 2016). This study used eye‐tracking to test competing hypotheses about the increased viewing time: (a) Computational Load: inference generation processes increase overall computational load, producing longer fixation durations; (b) Visual Search: inference generation processes guide eye‐movements to pick up inference‐relevant information, producing more fixations. Participants had similar fixation durations, but they made more fixations while generating inferences, with that process starting from the fifth fixation. A follow‐up hypothesis predicted that when generating inferences, participants fixate scene regions important for generating the inference. A separate group of participants rated the inferential‐relevance of regions in the critical images, and results showed that these inferentially relevant regions predicted differences in other viewers’ eye movements. Thus, viewers’ event models in working memory affect visual attentional selection while viewing visual narratives.

Neural activity associated with attention orienting triggered by implied action cues

Spatial attention can be directed by the actions of others. We used ERPs method to investigate the neural underpins associated with attention orienting which is induced by implied body action. Participants performed a standard non-predictive cuing task, in which a directional implied action (throwing and running) or non-action (standing) cue was randomly presented and then followed by a target to the left or right of the central cue, despite cue direction. The cue-triggered ERPs results demonstrated that implied action cues, rather than the non-action cue, could shift the observers' spatial attention as demonstrated by the robust anterior directing attention negativity (ADAN) effects in throwing and running cues. Further, earlier N1 (100-170ms) and P2 (170-260ms) waveform differences occurred between implied action and non-action cues over posterior electrodes. The P2 component might reflect implied motion signal perception of implied action cues, and this implied motion perception might play an important role in facilitating the attentional shifts induced by implied action cues. Target-triggered ERPs data (mainly P3a component) indicated that implied action cues (throwing and running) speeded and enhanced the responses to valid targets compared to invalid targets. Furthermore, P3a might imply that implied action orienting may share similar mechanisms of action with voluntary attention, especially at the novel stimuli processing decision-level. These results further support previous behavioral findings that implied body actions direct spatial attention and extend our understanding about the nature of the attentional shifts that are elicited by implied action cues.

Futurist Art: Motion and Aesthetics As a Function of Title

Very often the titles of Futurist paintings contain words denoting movement in order to satisfy their artistic poetic focused on motion and velocity. The aim of the present study is to investigate the reported dynamism and aesthetic quality of several Futurist artworks as a function of their title. Ten Futurist artworks with a movement-related word in the title were selected for this study. The titles were manipulated, resulting in four conditions for each painting: the “original title” with the movement word; an “increased” title in which an adjective was added in order to intensify the sense of dynamism; a “decreased” title, in which the movement word was eliminated; no title. Participants evaluated the movement suggested by each painting in the four different title conditions, rated their beauty and reported how much they liked the work. Results showed that the manipulation of the title had an effect on the reported movement: compared to the others, paintings presented with the “original” and with the “increased” title received significant higher movement scores. Of interest, beauty did not differ across conditions, but liking was higher for the conditions with more movement. Lastly, positive correlations between the quantity of perceived movement and aesthetic evaluation were found. From the present results it can be concluded that Futurists attributed much relevance to the titles of their artworks in order to effectively increase the expression of the movement represented.

The neural representation of objects formed through the spatiotemporal integration of visual transients

Oftentimes, objects are only partially and transiently visible as parts of them become occluded during observer or object motion. The visual system can integrate such object fragments across space and time into perceptual wholes or spatiotemporal objects. This integrative and dynamic process may involve both ventral and dorsal visual processing pathways, along which shape and spatial representations are thought to arise. We measured fMRI BOLD response to spatiotemporal objects and used multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) to decode shape information across 20 topographic regions of visual cortex. Object identity could be decoded throughout visual cortex, including intermediate (V3A, V3B, hV4, LO1-2,) and dorsal (TO1-2, and IPS0-1) visual areas. Shape-specific information, therefore, may not be limited to early and ventral visual areas, particularly when it is dynamic and must be integrated. Contrary to the classic view that the representation of objects is the purview of the ventral stream, intermediate and dorsal areas may play a distinct and critical role in the construction of object representations across space and time.

Sensitivity to differences in the motor origin of drawings: from human to robot

This study explores the idea that an observer is sensitive to differences in the static traces of drawings that are due to differences in motor origin. In particular, our aim was to test if an observer is able to discriminate between drawings made by a robot and by a human in the case where the drawings contain salient kinematic cues for discrimination and in the case where the drawings only contain more subtle kinematic cues. We hypothesized that participants would be able to correctly attribute the drawing to a human or a robot origin when salient kinematic cues are present. In addition, our study shows that observers are also able to detect the producer behind the drawings in the absence of these salient kinematic cues. The design was such that in the absence of salient kinematic cues, the drawings are visually very similar, i.e. only differing in subtle kinematic differences. Observers thus had to rely on these subtle kinematic differences in the line trajectories between drawings. However, not only motor origin (human versus robot) but also motor style (natural versus mechanic) plays a role in attributing a drawing to the correct producer, because participants scored less high when the human hand draws in a relatively mechanical way. Overall, this study suggests that observers are sensitive to subtle kinematic differences between visually similar marks in drawings that have a different motor origin. We offer some possible interpretations inspired by the idea of "motor resonance".

Motion illusions in optical art presented for long durations are temporally distorted

Static figurative images implying human body movements observed for shorter and longer durations affect the perception of time. This study examined whether images of static geometric shapes would affect the perception of time. Undergraduate participants observed two Optical Art paintings by Bridget Riley for 9 or 36 s (group G9 and G36, respectively). Paintings implying different intensities of movement (2.0 and 6.0 point stimuli) were randomly presented. The prospective paradigm in the reproduction method was used to record time estimations. Data analysis did not show time distortions in the G9 group. In the G36 group the paintings were differently perceived: that for the 2.0 point one are estimated to be shorter than that for the 6.0 point one. Also for G36, the 2.0 point painting was underestimated in comparison with the actual time of exposure. Motion illusions in static images affected time estimation according to the attention given to the complexity of movement by the observer, probably leading to changes in the storage velocity of internal clock pulses.

Action Concepts in the Brain: An Activation Likelihood Estimation Meta-analysis

Many recent neuroimaging studies have investigated the representation of semantic memory for actions in the brain. We used activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analyses to answer two outstanding questions about the neural basis of action concepts. First, on an “embodied” view of semantic memory, evidence to date is unclear regarding whether visual motion or motor systems are more consistently engaged by action concepts. Second, few studies have directly investigated the possibility that action concepts accessed verbally or nonverbally recruit different areas of the brain. Because our meta-analyses did not include studies requiring the perception of dynamic depictions of actions or action execution, we were able to determine whether conceptual processing alone recruits visual motion and motor systems. Significant concordance in brain regions within or adjacent to visual motion areas emerged in all meta-analyses. By contrast, we did not observe significant concordance in motor or premotor cortices in any analysis. Neural differences between action images and action verbs followed a gradient of abstraction among representations derived from visual motion information in the left lateral temporal and occipital cortex. The consistent involvement of visual motion but not motor brain regions in representing action concepts may reflect differences in the variability of experience across individuals with perceiving versus performing actions.

Electroencephalogram evidence for the activation of human mirror neuron system during the observation of intransitive shadow and line drawing actions

Previous studies have demonstrated that hand shadows may activate the motor cortex associated with the mirror neuron system in human brain. However, there is no evidence of activity of the human mirror neuron system during the observation of intransitive movements by shadows and line drawings of hands. This study examined the suppression of electroencephalography mu waves (8–13 Hz) induced by observation of stimuli in 18 healthy students. Three stimuli were used: real hand actions, hand shadow actions and actions made by line drawings of hands. The results showed significant desynchronization of the mu rhythm (“mu suppression”) across the sensorimotor cortex (recorded at C3, Cz and C4), the frontal cortex (recorded at F3, Fz and F4) and the central and right posterior parietal cortex (recorded at Pz and P4) under all three conditions. Our experimental findings suggest that the observation of “impoverished hand actions”, such as intransitive movements of shadows and line drawings of hands, is able to activate widespread cortical areas related to the putative human mirror neuron system.

Time dilation caused by static images with implied motion

The present study examined whether implicit motion information from static images influences perceived duration of image presentation. In Experiments 1 and 2, we presented observers with images of a human and an animal character in running and standing postures. The results revealed that the perceived presentation duration of running images was longer than that of standing images. In Experiments 3 and 4, we used abstract block-like images that imitated the human figures used in Experiment 1, presented with different instructions to change the observers' interpretations of the stimuli. We found that the perceived duration of the block image presented as a man running was longer than that of the image presented as a man standing still. However, this effect diminished when the participants were told the images were green onions (objects with no implied motion), suggesting that the effect of implied motion cannot be attributed to low-level visual differences. These results suggest that implied motion increases the perceived duration of image presentation. The potential involvement of higher-order motion processing and the mirror neuron system is discussed.

Corticomotor Excitability during Observation and Imagination of a Work of Art

We examine the effects of the artistic representation - here exemplified by Michelangelo's Expulsion from Paradise - of an action on the motor system. Using single and paired- pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation we analyze corticomotor excitability during observation of an action in the painting, during imagery of the painting, and during observation of a photograph of the same pose. We also analyze the effects of observation of two further paintings, one showing the same muscles at rest, and in the other in a more overtly emotional context. Both observation of the Expulsion and of imagery of the painting increased cortical excitability. Neither the relaxed pose of Michelangelo's Creation nor the flexed posture in the highly emotional context of Bellini's Dead Christ increased cortical excitability. Observation of a photograph of the same extended pose did not increase cortical excitability either. Moreover, intracortical inhibition was reduced during imagery of the painting. Our results offer clear motor correlates of the relationship between the esthetic quality of a work and the perception of implied movement within it.

Toward an Integrative Approach of Cognitive Neuroscientific and Evolutionary Psychological Studies of Art

This paper examines explanations for human artistic behavior in two reductionist research programs, cognitive neuroscience and evolutionary psychology. Despite their different methodological outlooks, both approaches converge on an explanation of art production and appreciation as byproducts of normal perceptual and motivational cognitive skills that evolved in response to problems originally not related to art, such as the discrimination of salient visual stimuli and speech sounds. The explanatory power of this reductionist framework does not obviate the need for higher-level accounts of art from the humanities, such as aesthetics, art history or anthropology of art.