Configural Information is Processed Differently in Human Action

Recent evidence indicates that observers' sensitivity to configural information in dynamic human action is disrupted when action is inverted, whereas sensitivity to featural action information is not. The current research involved two experiments that expand upon this basic finding. Experiment 1 revealed that featural and configural action information are processed similarly in static representations of action as in dynamic action. Experiment 2 indicated that configural processing is uniquely sensitive to orientation only in human action as compared to a similar control stimulus. These findings further support the idea that the perception of action recruits specialized orientation-specific configural processing, and parallel similar findings in face perception and visual expertise.