We investigated the role of global (body) and local (parts) motion on
the recognition of unfamiliar objects. Participants were trained to
categorise moving objects and were then tested on their recognition of
static images of these targets using a priming paradigm. Each static
target shape was primed by a moving object that comprised either the
same body and parts motion; same body, different parts motion; different
body, same part motion as the learned target or was non-moving. Only
the same body but not the same part motion facilitated shape recognition
(Experiment 1), even when either motion was diagnostic of object
identity (Experiment 2). When parts motion was more related to the
object's body motion then it facilitated the recognition of the static
target (Experiment 3). Our results suggest that global and local motions
are independently accessed during object recognition and have important
implications for how objects are represented in memory.