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Internal model of gravity influences configural body processing.

Julien Barra1, Patrice Senot2, Laurent Auclair3

  • 1Laboratoire Vision Action Cognition EA7326, Institut de Psychologie, Université Paris Descartes, France; Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition (UMR 5105), Université de Savoie Mont Blanc, F-7300 Chambéry, France.

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Summary

The body inversion effect, crucial for recognizing human bodies, is significantly reduced when visual gravity orientation aligns with physical gravity. This suggests our internal model of gravity influences how we process upright and inverted body configurations.

Keywords:
Body inversion effectConfigural processEmbodimentGraviceptionPosture

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Human Perception

Background:

  • The body inversion effect demonstrates impaired recognition of inverted bodies compared to other objects.
  • Biomechanical configuration, visual expertise, and embodied experience are known factors influencing this effect.
  • Gravity orientation is a fundamental constraint on human biology, behavior, and perception.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of gravity orientation in the body inversion effect.
  • To dissociate body orientation from visual gravity orientation during configural processing.
  • To test if a conflict between visual and physical gravity exacerbates the body inversion effect.

Main Methods:

  • Manipulated body posture of an avatar to dissociate body inversion from visual gravity inversion.
  • Compared the body inversion effect in conditions with and without gravity conflict.
  • Measured performance using error rates and reaction times.

Main Results:

  • The body inversion effect was significantly reduced when visual gravity and physical gravity orientations were not in conflict.
  • Configural processing of bodies appears possible even when the body is inverted relative to retinal coordinates, provided visual gravity is aligned.
  • Error rates and reaction times in body recognition tasks decreased when gravity conflict was absent.

Conclusions:

  • The internal model of gravity plays a critical role in the configural processing of observed bodies.
  • Gravity orientation, not just body inversion, is a key factor in the body inversion effect.
  • Future research should explore the implications of the internal gravity model on body perception.