Distortions of perceived volume and length of body parts
Sadibolova, Renata and Ferrè, Elisa Raffaella and Linkenauger, S.A. and Longo, Matthew R. (2018) Distortions of perceived volume and length of body parts. Cortex 111 , pp. 74-86. ISSN 0010-9452.
Text
24602.pdf - Author's Accepted Manuscript Restricted to Repository staff only Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (1MB) |
||
|
Text
24602a.pdf - Published Version of Record Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
We experience our body as a 3D, volumetric object in the world. Measures of our conscious body image, in contrast, have investigated the perception of body size along one or two dimensions at a time. There is, thus, a discrepancy between existing methods for measuring body image and our subjective experience of having 3D body. Here we assessed in a sample of healthy adults the perception of body size in terms of its 1D length and 3D volume. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups using different measuring units (other body part and non-body object). They estimated how many units would fit in a perceived size of body segments and the whole body. The patterns of length and volume misperception across judged segments were determined as their perceived size proportional to their actual size. The pattern of volume misperception paints the representation of 3D body proportions resembling those of a somatosensory homunculus. The body parts with a smaller actual surface area relative to their volume were underestimated more. There was a tendency for body parts underestimated in volume to be overestimated in length. Perceived body proportions thus changed as a function of judgement type while showing a similarity in magnitude of the absolute estimation error, be it an underestimation of volume or overestimation of length. The main contribution of this study is assessing the body image as a 3D body representation, and thus extending beyond the conventional ‘allocentric’ focus to include the body on the inside. Our findings highlight the value of studying the perceptual distortions “at the baseline”, i.e. in healthy population, so as to advance the understanding of the nature of perceptual distortions in clinical conditions.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Psychological Sciences |
Depositing User: | Matthew Longo |
Date Deposited: | 15 Oct 2018 14:57 |
Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 17:45 |
URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/24602 |
Statistics
Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.