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ERIC Number: EJ1006948
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013-Apr
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0010-0277
EISSN: N/A
Seeing and Feeling for Self and Other: Proprioceptive Spatial Location Determines Multisensory Enhancement of Touch
Cardini, Flavia; Haggard, Patrick; Ladavas, Elisabetta
Cognition, v127 n1 p84-92 Apr 2013
We have investigated the relation between visuo-tactile interactions and the self-other distinction. In the Visual Enhancement of Touch (VET) effect, non-informative vision of one's own hand improves tactile spatial perception. Previous studies suggested that looking at "another"person's hand could also enhance tactile perception, but did not systematically investigate the basis of this effect. In Experiment 1 we manipulated the spatial location where one's own or another person's hand was seen. Viewing one's own hand enhanced tactile orientation discrimination relative to viewing a neutral object, but only when the visual image of the hand was spatially aligned with the actual location of the participant's unseen hand, as signaled by proprioception. In contrast, viewing another person's hand produced enhanced tactile perception irrespective of spatial location. In Experiment 2, we used a multisensory stimulation technique, known as Visual Remapping of Touch (VRT), to reduce the spatial misalignment between the visual and proprioceptive locations of the hand. Participants saw an image of their own hand "being touched" at the same time as the tactile stimulation, which reduces perceived misalignment. This spatial adaptation procedure caused the VET effect to return. Our results suggest that multisensory modulation of touch depends on a representation of one's own body that is fundamentally spatial in nature. In contrast, representation of others is free from this spatial constraint. (Contains 5 figures.)
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A