Human faces and bodies are environmental stimuli of special importance that the brain processes with selective attention and a highly specialized visual system. It has been shown recently that the human brain also has dedicated networks for perception of pluralities of human bodies in synchronous motion or in face-to-face interaction. Here we show that a plurality of human bodies that are merely in close spatial proximity are automatically integrated into a coherent perceptual unit. We used an EEG frequency tagging technique allowing the dissociation of the brain activity related to the component parts of an image from the activity related to the global image configuration. We presented to participants images of two silhouettes flickering at different frequencies (5.88 vs. 7.14 Hz). Clear response at these stimulation frequencies reflected response to each part of the dyad. An emerging intermodulation component (7.14 + 5.88 = 13.02 Hz), a nonlinear response regarded as an objective signature of holistic representation, was significantly enhanced in the (typical) upright relative to an (altered) inverted position. Moreover, the inversion effect was significant for the intermodulation component but not for the stimulation frequencies, suggesting a trade-off between the processing of the global dyad configuration and that of the structural properties of the dyad elements. Our results show that when presented with two humans merely in close proximity the perceptual visual system will bind them. Hence the perception of the human form might be of a fundamentally different nature when it is part of a plurality.

人脸和身体是大脑通过选择性注意和高度专业化的视觉系统处理的特别重要的环境刺激。最近已经表明，人类大脑也有专门的网络来感知多元性人体同步运动或面对面交互。在这里，我们展示了仅在空间上接近的多个人体会自动集成到一个连贯的感知单元中。我们使用了 EEG 频率标记技术，允许将与图像组成部分相关的大脑活动与与全局图像配置相关的活动分离。我们向参与者展示了以不同频率（5.88 对 7.14 Hz）闪烁的两个剪影的图像。在这些刺激频率下的清晰反应反映了对二元组每个部分的反应。一个新兴的互调分量 (7.14 + 5.88 = 13.02 Hz)，一种非线性响应被视为整体表示的客观特征，相对于（改变的）倒立位置，（典型）直立位置显着增强。此外，反演效应对互调分量很重要，但对刺激频率没有影响，这表明全局二元组配置的处理与二元组元素的结构特性的处理之间存在权衡。我们的结果表明，当两个人仅靠得很近时，感知视觉系统会将他们联系起来。因此，当它是多元体的一部分时，对人类形式的感知可能具有根本不同的性质。建议在全局 dyad 配置的处理和 dyad 元素的结构特性的处理之间进行权衡。我们的结果表明，当两个人仅靠得很近时，感知视觉系统会将他们联系起来。因此，当它是多元体的一部分时，对人类形式的感知可能具有根本不同的性质。建议在全局 dyad 配置的处理和 dyad 元素的结构特性的处理之间进行权衡。我们的结果表明，当两个人仅靠得很近时，感知视觉系统会将他们联系起来。因此，当它是多元体的一部分时，对人类形式的感知可能具有根本不同的性质。