Biological motion: a quantification tool for actors? A brief experiment and commentary

Abstract

This short communication documents an attempt to use biological motion as a quantification tool to capture potential improvements in actors specialising in physical theatre. More concretely, a psychophysics measurement using biological motion was introduced at two time points in their training to examine if performance in the perception of human movement had significantly improved. It was hypothesised that students undergoing an intense training program in human movement would show a corresponding improvement in the psychophysics tests of biological motion. Architecture students and physical theatre teachers were used as controls. No significant difference was found in either control groups when compared to the theatre students, contrary to what was hypothesised. Interpretation of the results is briefly discussed.