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    Mental body representations retain homuncular shape distortions: evidence from Weber’s Illusion

    Miller, L.E. and Longo, Matthew R. and Saygin, A.P. (2016) Mental body representations retain homuncular shape distortions: evidence from Weber’s Illusion. Consciousness and Cognition 40 , pp. 17-25. ISSN 1053-8100.

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    Abstract

    Mental body representations underlying tactile perception do not accurately reflect the body’s true morphology. For example, perceived tactile distance is dependent on both the body part being touched and the stimulus orientation, a phenomenon called Weber’s illusion. These findings suggest the presence of size and shape distortions, respectively. However, whereas each morphological feature is typically measured in isolation, a complete morphological characterization requires the concurrent measurement of both size and shape. We did so in three experiments, manipulating both the stimulated body parts (hand; forearm) and stimulus orientation while requiring participants to make tactile distance judgments. We found that the forearm was significantly more distorted than the hand lengthwise but not widthwise. Effects of stimulus orientation are thought to reflect receptive field anisotropies in primary somatosensory cortex. The results of the present study therefore suggest that mental body representations retain homuncular shape distortions that characterize early stages of somatosensory processing.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Article
    Keyword(s) / Subject(s): Body representation, Psychophysics, Touch, Perception, Somatosensory
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Psychological Sciences
    Research Centres and Institutes: Brain and Cognitive Development, Centre for (CBCD)
    Depositing User: Matthew Longo
    Date Deposited: 04 Jan 2016 11:38
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 17:20
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/13812

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