Psychology and Aging Copyright 2004 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.

2004, Vol. 19, No. 1, 219 –225 0882-7974/04/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0882-7974.19.1.219

Aging and the Perception of Biological Motion

J. Farley Norman and Sharon M. Payton Jennifer R. Long

Western Kentucky University Eureka College

Laura M. Hawkes
Southern Illinois University
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

Two experiments examined how observers’ ability to perceive biological motion changes with increasing
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age. The observers discriminated among kinetic figures, depicting walking, jogging, and skipping. The
direction, duration, and temporal correspondence of the motions were manipulated. Quantitative differ-
ences occurred between the recognition performances of younger and older observers, but these
differences were often modest. The older and younger observers’ performances were comparable for
most conditions at stimulus durations of 400 ms. The older observers also performed well above chance
at shorter durations of 240 and 120 ms. Unlike their performance on other 2- or 3-dimensional motion
tasks, older observers’ ability to perceive biological motion is relatively well preserved.

Motion is an important source of information for human ob-
servers. From patterns of optical motion we can perceive an
object’s three-dimensional (3-D) shape (Braunstein, 1976; Braun-
stein & Andersen, 1984; Norman & Lappin, 1992; Norman &
Todd, 1993; Todd, Akerstrom, Reichel, & Hayes, 1988; Wallach
& O’Connell, 1953), estimate our path as we navigate through an
environment (Warren & Hannon, 1988; Warren & Saunders,
1995), judge whether and when a moving object is likely to hit us
(Lee & Reddish, 1981; Todd, 1981), and so forth. Patterns of
optical motion also allow us to identify and recognize the activities
and characteristics of other people. The seminal work on the
perception of biological motion was performed by Gunnar Johan-
sson in the 1970s (e.g., see Johansson, 1973, 1975, 1976). Since
that time, there has been a steady and sustained interest in phe-
nomena involving biological motion (e.g., Ahlström, Blake, &
Ahlström, 1997; Cutting, 1978; Kozlowski & Cutting, 1977; Neri,
Morrone, & Burr, 1998).
Research over the past 15–20 years has demonstrated that older
people often have difficulties in using motion for a wide variety of
perceptual tasks. For example, older observers have difficulties in
perceiving (a) moving luminance gratings (Sekuler, Hutman, &
Owsley, 1980); (b) small oscillatory movements (Buckingham,
Whitaker, & Banford, 1987); (c) the direction of moving patterns
(Ball & Sekuler, 1986); (d) the speed of moving patterns (Norman,
J. Farley Norman and Sharon M. Payton, Department of Psychology,
Western Kentucky University; Jennifer R. Long, Social Science and Busi-
ness Division, Eureka College; Laura M. Hawkes, Department of Psychol-
ogy, Southern Illinois University.
We thank Dan Roenker for his helpful comments and suggestions. This
research was supported by National Science Foundation Research Experi-
ence for Undergraduates Grant SES-0097491.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to J. Farley
Norman, Department of Psychology, Western Kentucky University, Bowl-
ing Green, KY 42101. E-mail: Farley.norman@wku.edu
Ross, Hawkes, & Long, 2003); (e) coherent motion (Gilmore,
Wenk, Naylor, & Stuve, 1992; Trick & Silverman, 1991); (f) 3-D
structure from motion (Andersen & Atchley, 1995; Norman, Daw-
son, & Butler, 2000); (g) 3-D motion priming (Jiang, Greenwood,
& Parasuraman, 1999); and (h) the direction of self-motion from
patterns of optical flow (Warren, Blackwell, & Morris, 1989).
Given the extensive number of studies that have examined age-
related effects on perceptual tasks involving motion, it is therefore
surprising that little or no research has investigated how effectively
older observers perceive biological motion. In contrast, various
phenomena involving biological motion have been studied in
younger observers for several decades. There have also been
developmental studies of biological motion at the other end of the
age continuum, in infants (Fox & McDaniel, 1982). The purpose of
this investigation was to fill in this gap and evaluate older observ-
ers’ sensitivity to differences in biological motion. Experiment 1
explored older observers’ ability to discriminate among and rec-
ognize the different patterns of biological motion produced by
different behavioral activities. Experiment 2 evaluated to what
extent older observers’ ability to perceive biological motion is
affected by disruptions in the temporal correspondence of moving
stimulus elements, as would occur when parts of moving objects
appear and disappear behind other objects because of occlusion.
Experiment 1
Method
Apparatus. The images (640 ⫻ 480 pixel resolution) and apparent
motion sequences were displayed by an Apple Power Macintosh 8600/300
by using hardware acceleration (Nexus 128 graphics accelerator, ATI
Technologies; Markham, Ontario, Canada), and they were viewed by using
a 21-in. Mitsubishi 91TXM color monitor. The stimulus displays were
viewed by the observers at a distance of 100 cm.
Stimulus displays. The patterns of biological motion were produced by
having a human model perform various activities (walking, jogging, skip-
ping) in the dark while wearing 13 small incandescent halogen light bulbs

219
 220 BRIEF REPORTS
attached to the major joints (i.e., the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hip, knee,
ankle) and head. The halogen light sources were connected in series and
were powered by a 27-V DC battery. These activities (walking, jogging,
skipping) were performed five times each, and the resulting patterns of
biological motion were recorded on videotape using a Panasonic AG-450
S-VHS movie camera. A sample sequence of views from one of the
activities (jogging) is shown in Figure 1. A total of 375 images from the
videotape (3 activities ⫻ 5 repetitions ⫻ 25 images/activity/repetition)
were then digitally captured by the Apple Power Macintosh 8600/300 and
saved for future use. The average height of the dotted figures depicting the
biological motion in the final images was approximately 6.0° visual angle.
Procedure. During the experiment, on any given trial, one of the three
activities and repetitions (i.e., 1–5) would be randomly chosen by the
computer, and an observer would be shown samples of either 3 or 10 views
taken from the longer motion sequence of 25 views saved for that activity
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and repetition (the frame update rate of the apparent motion sequences was
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25 Hz). The first of the 3 or 10 views sampled was randomly chosen, such
that the sample could be from either the beginning of the longer motion
sequence, near the end, or anywhere in between. At the very beginning of
the experiment, to avoid biasing the observers’ responses, we showed each
observer several of the longer apparent motion sequences and asked them
what they saw. All of the observers, both younger and older, did not have
any difficulty in perceiving walking, jogging, or skipping, and they spon-
taneously described the activities to us as walking, jogging, or skipping
human figures.
Each observer participated in four blocks of trials. Each block consisted
of a total of 150 trials (3 activities ⫻ 2 lengths of apparent motion
sequences, 3 or 10 views, ⫻ 25 trials/activity/sequence length). After the
completion of all blocks, each observer had judged stimuli in each condi-
tion 100 times (600 total judgments). On any given trial, the computer
randomly presented the biological motion in either a forward or backward
direction. Thus, across trials, the biological motion varied in terms of the
depicted activity, direction of motion (forward or backward), and length of
the presented apparent motion sequence. The direction of the biological
motion was varied along with the type of motion (i.e., the activity) to make
the stimulus displays more variable and thus less predictable to the ob-
servers. In addition, Johansson (1976) investigated the perception of back-
ward walking: The current experiment extends his comparison of the
perception of forward and backward walking to new activities, such as
jogging and skipping. Following each trial, the observers were asked to
indicate which of the three activities had been presented. The observers did
not receive feedback about the accuracy of their performance.
Observers. Sixteen observers participated in the experiment; 8 were
older than 60 years (mean age was 72.6 years, ␴ ⫽ 5.7), and 8 were
younger than 25 years (mean age was 20.0 years, ␴ ⫽ 1.9). Informed
consent was obtained from all participants, and the methods and procedures
for the experiment were approved by the Human Subjects Review Board at
Western Kentucky University. The older observers were screened for
macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts, or other retinal or eye prob-
Figure 1. An example of the stimulus displays used in Experiment 1. The activity depicted in this figure is
jogging. Solid white circles indicate positions of halogen light bulbs used in Experiment 1.
lems. The observers’ acuity was measured at a distance of 100 cm by using
a Landolt C chart constructed for our viewing distance using the specifi-
cations given by Riggs (1965). The younger observers’ mean acuity was
1.0 min⫺1, whereas the mean acuity for the older observers was 0.7 min⫺1
(1.0 min⫺1 is equivalent to 20/20 vision measured at 20 ft [6.1 m]; 0.67
min⫺1 is equivalent to 20/30 vision). It is important to note in this context
that the vision of older adults is often not well corrected for a 1-m viewing
distance, because traditional bifocals only correct acuity for very near
reading distances of 40 cm and for very far distances of 10 to 20 ft. It is a
fact, however, that we often view moving objects and people at moderate
distances within several feet of ourselves. In each age group, half of the
observers were male and half were female.
Results and Discussion
Key aspects of the results are shown in Figures 2 and 3. The
recognition performance was excellent for both age groups for the
longer apparent motion sequences (10 views; total stimulus dura-
tion was 400 ms). This excellent performance occurred despite the
fact that the older observers’ visual acuity was somewhat less than
that of the younger observers. This finding is in agreement with the
results of other studies that have found no adverse effects of
moderate reductions in visual acuity for performance on tasks
involving the detection and discrimination of motion (e.g.,
Andersen & Atchley, 1995; Norman et al., 2000; Norman et al.,
2003). Figure 2 also shows that the observers’ performance de-
creased for the much shorter three-view motion sequences (total
stimulus duration was 120 ms). However, the decrease in recog-
nition performance with shorter sequences was greater for the
older observers. This larger effect of the reduction in the number
of views for the older observers was reflected by a significant
Age ⫻ Views interaction, F(1, 14) ⫽ 55.3, p ⬍ .0001, MSE ⫽
58.6, obtained in a four-way split-plot analysis of variance
(ANOVA; 1 between-subjects factor [age] and three within-
subjects factors [type of activity, number of views, and direction of
biological motion, which is forward vs. backward]).
Figure 3 shows another of the significant effects: The effect of
the reduction in the number of views from 10 to 3 was largest for
the pattern of biological motion that corresponded with skipping
and was smaller for the other activities of walking and jogging.
This effect was reflected by a significant Activity ⫻ Views inter-
action, F(2, 28) ⫽ 15.9, p ⬍ .0001, MSE ⫽ 154.9. Skipping was
definitely the most difficult biological motion pattern for the
observers to identify correctly; the difficulty of the skipping con-
ditions also resulted in a significant main effect of activity, F(2,
28) ⫽ 25.3, p ⬍ .0001, MSE ⫽ 199.5.
 BRIEF REPORTS 221

itself different for the 3-view stimuli (bottom left and right panels
of Figure 4): This difference generated a significant four-way
interaction (Age ⫻ Activity ⫻ Direction ⫻ Views).
The previous analysis focused on the observers’ recognition
accuracies. It is possible to go further and also analyze the observ-
ers’ mistakes. If observers fail to recognize a particular pattern of
biological motion, then with which other pattern of biological
motion do they confuse it? The results of a discrimination/confu-
sion analysis are presented in Figure 5. A ⫺ln ␩ value (see Luce,
1963) of 4.0 –5.0 indicates a high level of discriminability between
any two forms of biological motion (i.e., low confusability be-
tween the two types of motion), whereas low ⫺ln ␩ values indicate
that observers have difficulty in discriminating between the two
Figure 2. Results of Experiment 1: The observers’ recognition accuracies forms of motion (and thus they are highly confusable). The ob-
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are plotted as a function of stimulus duration or number of views. The

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servers’ discrimination accuracies in Figure 5 are plotted sepa-

results are plotted separately for the younger (solid circles) and older rately for the younger and older observers. An inspection of either
observers (open circles). The dashed horizontal line indicates chance levels
panel (results for the 10- and 3-view stimuli are presented in the
of recognition performance (33.3%). The error bars indicate ⫾1 SE.
left and right panels, respectively) in Figure 5 reveals that it is
relatively easy to discriminate that walking is different from either
jogging or skipping. The two most difficult patterns of biological
Nine of the 15 main effects and interactions were statistically motion to discriminate between are jogging and skipping. That is,
significant. However, only five of these accounted for two thirds if the observers (either young or old) make a mistake on a trial
(66.7%) of the total variance in the observers’ judgments. From depicting skipping, they are more likely to confuse that pattern
most variance accounted for to the least, these factors were (a) with jogging than with walking. Conversely, if they make a mis-
number of views or stimulus duration, F(1, 14) ⫽ 343.4, p ⬍ take on a trial depicting jogging, they are more likely to confuse
.0001, MSE ⫽ 58.6; (b) stimulus activity (i.e., walking, jogging, that stimulus with skipping rather than walking. The older observ-
skipping), F(2, 28) ⫽ 25.3, p ⬍ .0001, MSE ⫽ 199.5; (c) age, F(1, ers’ discrimination accuracies are lower than those of the younger
14) ⫽ 34.3, p ⬍ .0001, MSE ⫽ 245.9; (d) Activity ⫻ Number of observers, but the overall pattern of their results is similar. More-
Views, F(2, 28) ⫽ 15.9, p ⬍ .0001, MSE ⫽ 154.9; and (e) Age ⫻ over, there is not much of a difference between the age groups for
Number of Views, F(1, 14) ⫽ 55.3, p ⬍ .0001, MSE ⫽ 58.6. All longer apparent motion sequences (i.e., 10 views). Even with
of these main effects and interactions can be seen in Figures 2 shorter stimuli, the older observers have the same pattern of results
and 3. as the younger observers (discriminating walking from other pat-
The remaining four significant effects were small and did not terns is best, whereas the least accurate performance occurs when
contribute much to the total variance in the observers’ judgments attempting to discriminate between jogging and skipping).
(variance accounted for ranged from 0.4% to 2.7%). In addition to The results of this experiment would appear to conclusively
the earlier described effects of stimulus activity and duration, there indicate that older observers can perform almost as well as
was also a small main effect of stimulus direction (i.e., whether the younger observers in recognizing and discriminating patterns of
biological motion was presented in a forward or backward direc- biological motion if they are allowed to view longer apparent
tion, 88.3% and 82.1% correct overall performance, respectively;
F(1, 14) ⫽ 41.3, p ⬍ .0001, MSE ⫽ 45.2). There was a significant
Activity ⫻ Direction interaction, F(2, 28) ⫽ 9.8, p ⬍ .001, MSE ⫽
74.5. In addition, there were two very small age-related interac-
tions, Age ⫻ Activity ⫻ Direction, F(2, 28) ⫽ 3.6, p ⬍ .05,
MSE ⫽ 74.5; and Age ⫻ Activity ⫻ Direction ⫻ Views, F(2,
28) ⫽ 5.6, p ⬍ .01, MSE ⫽ 26.7, that accounted for only 0.8% and
0.4% of the total variance, respectively. These small effects in-
volving the direction of biological motion are evident from the
results shown in Figure 4. Consider the Activity ⫻ Direction
interaction: The direction of biological motion (forward vs. back-
ward) does not appreciably affect the perception and recognition of
walking, but it does have an influence on the perception and
recognition of other activities, such as jogging and skipping. The
small age-related interactions involving direction can also be seen
in Figure 4. For example, presenting the jogging and skipping
forms of biological motion in a backward direction affected the
performance of the older observers more than that of the younger Figure 3. Results of Experiment 1: The effects of the three different
observers (compare the top left and right panels of Figure 4). Also, behavioral activities for both stimulus durations are shown. The dashed
this result for the 10-view stimuli (the Age ⫻ Activity ⫻ Direction horizontal line indicates chance levels of recognition performance (33.3%).
interaction shown in the top left and right panels of Figure 4) is The error bars indicate ⫾1 SE.
 222 BRIEF REPORTS
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Figure 4. Results of Experiment 1: The younger and older observers’ recognition accuracies as a function of
activity, stimulus duration (i.e., number of views), and direction of biological motion are plotted. The dashed
horizontal lines indicate chance levels of recognition performance (33.3%). The error bars indicate ⫾1 SE.

motion sequences (i.e., 10 views) and if the biological motion
occurs in the forward direction (both of these conditions are
fulfilled in almost all instances of biological motion that we
witness in our everyday life). In our experiment, the images were
updated at a rate of 25 Hz (40 ms/image); therefore, even the
10-view motion sequences lasted for only 0.4 s, or 400 ms.
Apparently, a 400-ms exposure duration is long enough for older
observers to reliably and accurately discriminate among various
forms of biological motion. In addition, the older observers’ per-
formance for three views (120 ms) was well above chance levels,
because their recognition accuracy was on average 64% in that
condition, whereas chance performance would be indicated by a
value of 33.3%.
Experiment 2
Observers often perceive the activities of people in complex and
cluttered environments where parts of the biological motion are

Figure 5. Results of Experiment 1: The younger and older observers’ discrimination accuracies for all pairs of
behavioral activities are plotted (see the text for details). The results are plotted separately for the 3-view and
10-view conditions. The error bars indicate ⫾1 SE.
 BRIEF REPORTS 223

temporarily blocked from view as the people move behind various
occluding objects. In past research (Norman et al., 2000), it has
been shown that older observers’ ability to perceive 3-D surface
shape from motion is heavily impacted by disruptions in the
temporal correspondence of moving surface elements. The purpose
of Experiment 2 was to evaluate whether older observers’ ability to
perceive and discriminate among various forms of biological mo-
tion is also adversely affected by disruptions in the correspondence
of moving stimulus elements over time.
Method
Apparatus. The images and apparent motion sequences were displayed
by the same computer that was used in Experiment 1. They were viewed
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alent to 20/20 vision measured at 20 ft; 0.67 min⫺1 is equivalent to 20/30
vision).
Results and Discussion
The results of the experiment are shown in Figures 6 and 7. To
simplify the plots and data analysis, we collapsed the observers’
data across the manipulation of direction of biological motion (i.e.,
forward & backward), because the effect of this variable is small
(see results of Experiment 1). As can be easily seen in both the left
(visible occluder conditions) and right (invisible occluder condi-
tions) panels of Figure 6, the presence and amount of occlusion
significantly affected the observers’ discrimination performance.
This deterioration of performance with increasing amounts of

using a 22-in. Mitsubishi Diamond Plus 200 color monitor. The viewing occlusion was verified by a significant main effect of occlusion:
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distance was the same as that used in Experiment 1 (i.e., 100 cm).
three-way split-plot factorial ANOVA with one between-subjects
Stimulus displays. The stimuli were the same as those used in Exper-
factor (age) and two within-subjects factors (occlusion and activ-
iment 1, with two exceptions. All apparent motion sequences consisted of
a total of six views, leading to a total stimulus duration on any given trial ity), F(4, 56) ⫽ 90.0, p ⬍ .0001, MSE ⫽ 89.1. There was also a
of 240 ms. This value is intermediate between the two stimulus durations significant main effect of age, F(1, 14) ⫽ 13.3, p ⫽ .003, MSE ⫽
(3 and 10 views) used in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, the patterns of 1,058.6, but there was no Age ⫻ Occlusion interaction, F(4, 56) ⫽
biological motion were presented behind a series of vertically oriented 0.3, p ⬎ .05, MSE ⫽ 89.1. The older observers recognized the
occluding bars. In every stimulus display, the 640 pixel-wide image was patterns of biological motion at performance levels that were 80%
divided into 32 equal-width (20 pixel) subdivisions. Across conditions, the of those of the younger observers. However, there were no addi-
duty cycle, or width, of those occluding bars was varied: 0% (no occlusion, tional effects of age: The manipulations of the presence and
same type of displays as those used in Experiment 1), 50%, or 85% of the amount of occlusion affected the younger and older observers in a
subdivision width. In the 50% condition, a total of half of the entire
proportionally equivalent manner.
stimulus display was occluded; out of every 20 pixel-wide subdivision, 10
Figure 7 plots the observers’ recognition performance as a
pixels were occluded. In the 85% condition, nearly all of the stimulus
display was occluded; out of every 20 pixel-wide subdivision, 17 pixels function of the various activities. The observers were best at
were occluded. In these 50% and 85% occlusion conditions, the observers recognizing walking and jogging, and they were worst at identi-
only saw brief portions of the movements of each of the stimulus elements. fying skipping. This main effect of activity was statistically sig-
Because the figure defined by biological motion was large, relative to the nificant, F(2, 28) ⫽ 32.0, p ⬍ .0001, MSE ⫽ 253.7. There was no
width of the occluding bars, whereas some of the stimulus elements were Age ⫻ Activity interaction; the effect of activity was therefore
appearing, others were either invisible or disappearing. Therefore, in those statistically the same for both the younger and older observers,
50% and 85% occlusion conditions, the observers never saw the biological F(2, 28) ⫽ 1.1, p ⬎ .05, MSE ⫽ 253.7. There was, however, a
motions of the complete figure at any given time. significant Activity ⫻ Occluder interaction, F(8, 112) ⫽ 2.2, p ⫽
In some experimental conditions, the occluding bars were visible (col-
.033, MSE ⫽ 85.4. This interaction is evident in the results shown
ored a solid blue), simulating ecologically valid environmental conditions
in Figure 7 and occurred because the effects of occlusion were
(i.e., occluding objects are normally visible). In other conditions, the
occluders were invisible (black bars presented against the black back- slightly less for jogging than for the other two types of biological
ground). Even when invisible, the occluders in these conditions were still motion (i.e., walking and skipping).
effective in masking the movements of the stimulus elements in the
biological motion pattern.
Procedure. Each observer participated in five blocks of trials. Each
block consisted of a total of 150 trials: 3 activities (walking, jogging, &
skipping) ⫻ 50 trials per activity. The five different occluder conditions
were run in separate blocks (no occluders, 50% visible occluders, 50%
invisible occluders, 85% visible occluders, and 85% invisible occluders).
The order of the five blocks was randomly determined for each observer.
After the completion of all blocks, each observer had therefore judged a
total of 750 stimuli. The task was identical to that used in Experiment 1:
After each stimulus presentation, the observers were asked to indicate
which of the 3 activities had been presented.
Observers. Sixteen observers participated in the experiment; 8 were
older than 60 years (mean age was 71.3 years, ␴ ⫽ 4.8), and 8 were
younger than 28 years (mean age was 22.5 years, ␴ ⫽ 2.6). Informed
consent was obtained from all participants, and the method and procedures
for the experiment were approved by the Human Subjects Review Board at Figure 6. Results of Experiment 2: The younger (solid circles) and older
Western Kentucky University. The older observers were screened for (open circles) observers’ recognition performance is plotted as a function
macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts, or other retinal or eye prob- of the presence and amount of occlusion. The results for the visible and
lems. The observers’ acuity was once again measured at 100 cm, using the invisible occluder condition are shown separately. The dashed horizontal
Landolt C chart. The younger observers’ mean acuity was 1.0 min⫺1, line indicates chance levels of recognition performance (33.3%). The error
whereas that for the older observers was 0.89 min⫺1 (1.0 min⫺1 is equiv- bars indicate ⫾1 SE.
 224 BRIEF REPORTS
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Figure 7. Results of Experiment 2: The observers’ recognition perfor-
mance is plotted for all three behavioral activities as a function of the
presence and amount of occlusion. The dashed horizontal line indicates
chance levels of recognition performance (33.3%). The error bars indicate
⫾1 SE.
General Discussion
In past research, Norman et al. (2000) found that disrupting the
temporal correspondence of moving stimulus elements greatly
affects the ability of older observers to perceive and discriminate
3-D shape from motion. When the lifetimes of individual surface
points were limited to two consecutive views, the older adults (but
not the younger adults) were unable to perceive coherently rotating
surfaces in depth and reported that they only saw blinking points.
It is very interesting to note that in this context, similar temporal
disruptions in the lifetimes of individual stimulus elements (caused
by occlusion) do not eliminate or greatly reduce the ability to
perceive biological motion (see Figure 6). The perception of bio-
logical motion is evidently carried out by neurophysiological
mechanisms that are quite distinct from those responsible for the
perception of object shape. Grossman et al. (2000; also see Cowey
& Vaina, 2000, and Grossman & Blake, 2001) have identified an
area in the human superior temporal sulcus that is activated when
observers view or even imagine biological motion. There are also
areas in the temporal lobe that are responsible for the perception of
3-D shape (Janssen, Vogels, Liu, & Orban, 2001; also see
Peuskens, Todd, Norman, Van Hecke, & Orban, 2002). Because
biological motion capabilities seem to be relatively well preserved
with age, the processes responsible for aging may affect some parts
of the temporal lobe more than others. Aging does reduce the total
volume of temporal lobe grey matter (Sullivan, Marsh, Mathalon,
Lim, & Pfefferbaum, 1995), but perhaps the areas devoted to the
perception of biological motion are less affected than the rest of
the temporal lobe. A distinctly different possibility that may be
able to account for the fact that the perception and discrimination
of biological motion is relatively well preserved with age may be
that such tasks are overlearned. After all, human beings are visu-
ally exposed to the common forms of biological motion (walking
& jogging) many times everyday, throughout the entirety of their
lives. Skipping is a form of biological motion that we rarely
encounter: Perhaps this explains the somewhat reduced perfor-
mance exhibited in the skipping conditions in Experiments 1 and
2 (see Figures 3 and 7).
Neri et al. (1998) showed that normal observers can perceive
biological motion even when temporal correspondence is disrupted
by limiting the lifetimes of points of artificial point-light walkers
to two consecutive views. Our results extend their findings and
document that older observers can also effectively perceive and
discriminate among various forms of biological motion even when
the depicted motions of the stimulus elements are either brief
(Experiment 1, 120 ms, & Experiment 2, 240 ms) and/or fragmen-
tary (i.e., disruptions in point correspondence and lifetime caused
by the presence of occluding bars).
The results of Experiment 2 also showed that it did not matter
whether the occluders were ecologically valid or not (i.e., whether
they were visible or invisible). Both the older and younger observ-
ers were affected similarly by the two types of occluders. This
finding is somewhat similar to the results of an experiment by
Watamaniuk and McKee (1995), whose observers were required to
detect in a two-alternative forced-choice (2-AFC) paradigm, which
temporal interval contained the coherent motion of a single point
embedded in noise. Various kinds of occluders that masked the
target motion were used: In one condition, explicit occluders were
visible, whereas in other conditions the occluders were only im-
plicitly defined. Watamaniuk and McKee found that it was possi-
ble to create implicit occluders that were just as effective in
facilitating performance as the explicit, ecologically valid
occluders.
The results of our experiments have demonstrated that older
observers can in many cases effectively perceive and discriminate
among various patterns of biological motion, such as walking,
jogging, and skipping. Older observers do exhibit some deteriora-
tion in performance with exposure durations on the order of 120
ms, but their performance for discriminating among various forms
of forward biological motion is very similar to that of much
younger observers when the exposure duration is increased to 400
ms (compare the results for the forward biological motion condi-
tions in the top two panels of Figure 4). This result compares
favorably with that of Johansson (1976, see Table 2c, p. 384), who
showed that the discrimination among various forms of biological
motion becomes very accurate for exposure durations of about 300
ms. When one considers that Johansson’s subjects were high
school students, the level of performance manifested in our study
by older observers for longer durations and forward motions
appears to be excellent (98.5%, 97.5%, and 93.0% correct discrim-
ination accuracy in the forward 10-view conditions for walking,
jogging, and skipping, respectively). The development of the abil-
ity to perceive biological motion has been studied before, but only
at one end of the life span, in infants (Fox & McDaniel, 1982). Fox
and McDaniel showed that this ability develops at about 4 – 6
months of age. Our results in this article suggest that this ability to
perceive and discriminate among different types of biological
motion is robust and is relatively well preserved throughout the
latest periods of life.
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Received January 17, 2003
Revision received May 22, 2003
Accepted May 29, 2003 䡲