Predicting human action with human and non-human movement kinematics: behavioural and fMRI findings

Human observers perceive movement with typical human kinematics more sensitively than movement with non-human kinematics, even when its velocity profile is more uniform. In a behavioural experiment and a subsequent fMRI study, we tested the influence of movement kinematics on the accuracy of predicting the time course of another individual’s actions. A temporal occlusion paradigm was used in which participants observed short video sequences that were briefly occluded. The videos either showed a human point-light shape that was animated with human movement (natural condition) or with artificial movement (artifici…