On the perception of movement vigour

Area of Science:

• Motor control and perception
• Human movement analysis
• Psychophysics

Background:

• Movement vigour, a measure of natural pace, is often quantified by speed or duration.
• The vigour law describes how preferred movement speed and duration increase with motion amplitude.
• The direct-matching hypothesis suggests this law influences judgments of others' movement vigour.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if the vigour law applies to the perception of movement.
• To determine if perceived movement vigour is linked to an individual's own motor control.
• To test the direct-matching hypothesis in movement perception.

Main Methods:

• Conducted three experiments with 80 participants.
• Measured participants' own movement vigour (speed, duration, amplitude).
• Assessed participants' judgments of perceived movement quickness for various stimuli.

Main Results:

• Perceived natural pace (neither fast nor slow) showed increased speed and duration with movement amplitude, confirming the vigour law in perception.
• Judgments of others' movement vigour were population-based, relying on average participant vigour.
• Judgments were not significantly correlated with individual participants' own vigour.

Conclusions:

• The vigour law extends to the perception of movement, influencing how we judge others' natural pace.
• Perceptual judgments of movement vigour are guided by population-level motor control norms.
• This suggests a shared, population-based mechanism underlies both action and perception of movement vigour.