Background

Social interactions depend critically on visual information about other humans. Information about body movement is particularly important because it can convey social attributes such as dominance, mood, attractiveness, vulnerability and intent. The predominant view of how this motion information is processed in the brain divides the task into two parts: Primitive sensory features such as local direction and speed are processed in one part of the brain (the occipital lobe), while more complex social attributes such as gait and dynamic facial expression are processed in another part (the temporal lobe).

The project investigates the links between sensory processing and social processing, particularly in the context of motion perception. It also aims to shed light on how we make judgements about the speed of real-world objects generally, not just about the speed of human movements.