Modeling of animal movement by AR process and effect of predictability of the behavior on perception of animacy and intentionality

We perceive animacy even on a simple dot traveling across a screen based on its movements. Research studies have pointed out several features of movement that are assumed to induce the perception of animacy; however, validations and discussions about these features are still insufficient. Meanwhile, other studies indicate that the perception of the intentionality is a prerequisite for the perception of animacy but these perceptions have not been differentiated clearly in the literature. In this study, we conduct an experiment with human participants to clarify the differences between animacy and intentionality in terms of the predictability of behavior. First, we model the behavior of goldfish using an autoregressive process and create several types of movies of a white dot moving on a black background where we change the fluctuation levels of its velocity and its rotation. The movies are presented to human participants and they are asked to chase the white dot using a pen tablet so that the predictability of the behavior can be quantified. The participants are also asked to rate the animacy and the intentionality of the moving dot. Our results reveal a negative correlation between the perception of animacy and intentionality.