title: Effects of visual context upon functional connectivity during observation of biological motions.
abstract: The aim of this study was to examine brain responses, in particular functional connectivity, to different visual stimuli depicting familiar biological motions. Ten subjects actively observed familiar biological motions embedded in point-light and video displays. Electroencephalograms were recorded from 64 electrodes. Activity was considered in three frequency bands (4-8 Hz, 8-10 Hz, and 10-13 Hz) using a non-linear measure of functional connectivity. In the 4-8 Hz and 8-10 Hz frequency bands, functional connectivity for the SMA was greater during the observation of biological motions presented in a point-light display compared to the observation of motions presented in a video display. The reverse was observed for the 4-8 Hz frequency band for the left temporal area. Explanations related to: (i) the task demands (i.e., attention and mental effort), (ii) the role(s) of theta and alpha oscillations in cognitive processes, and (iii) the function(s) of cortical areas are discussed. It has been suggested that attention was required to process human biological motions under unfamiliar viewing conditions such as point-light display.
authors: de l'Expertise et de la Performance, INSEP, Institut National du Sport, Paris, France.
authors: Magaly
authors: M
authors: Hars
authors: Mélany
authors: M
authors: Hars
authors: Cornelis J
authors: CJ
authors: Stam
authors: Claire
authors: C
authors: Calmels
mesh_terms: D001519:Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D003344:Cortical Synchronization / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D009038:Motion; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult