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Abstract

When processing the semantic relations in a picture, observers are faster in determining the agent (i.e. the acting person) than the patient of an action (i.e. the person receiving an action). This “agent advantage effect” was shown with static pictorial stimulus material (e.g., one fish biting an other fish). We investigated whether this effect also holds true for dynamic social interactions (e.g. one person pushing an other person). The most important difference between static and dynamic stimuli is the amount of change per time unit, which is different for agents and patients. Participants viewed dynamic animations depicting two stick figures with one patting the other on the shoulder. The viewing angle on this interaction as well as the start frame of the movement were systematically varied and randomly presented. Participants were instructed to search for the agent (i.e. the person patting) and the patient (i.e. the person being patted; order counterbalanced across participants) in these interactions and to press the button corresponding to the location on the screen. Results indicated a reversed “agent advantage effect” with the participants being more correct when searching for the patient. This suggests that motion information derived from the dynamic interactions interacts with semantic processing.