Our body-shadows are special stimuli in the visual world. They often have anatomical resemblance with our own body-parts and move as our body moves, with spatio-temporal correlation. Here, we show that self-attributed body-shadows cue attention to the body-part they refer to, rather than the location they occupy. Using speeded spatial discrimination for tactile or visual targets at the hands, or for visual targets delivered near the hand-shadows, we demonstrate that mere viewing of task-irrelevant shadows can selectively facilitate tactile discrimination at the body-part casting the shadow (Experiment 1). In addition, such facilitation only develops through time for cast-shadows that have no resemblance with the body-part, but move in spatio-temporal correlation with it (Experiment 2). Conversely, facilitation fades away rapidly for shadow-like images that resemble the stimulated body-part, but are in fact static pictures (Experiment 3). Thus, recognising oneself as the owner of a shadow aVects distribution of tactile attention.

SELF-ATTRIBUTED BODY-SHADOWS MODULATE TACTILE ATTENTION

GALFANO, GIOVANNI
2007

Abstract

Our body-shadows are special stimuli in the visual world. They often have anatomical resemblance with our own body-parts and move as our body moves, with spatio-temporal correlation. Here, we show that self-attributed body-shadows cue attention to the body-part they refer to, rather than the location they occupy. Using speeded spatial discrimination for tactile or visual targets at the hands, or for visual targets delivered near the hand-shadows, we demonstrate that mere viewing of task-irrelevant shadows can selectively facilitate tactile discrimination at the body-part casting the shadow (Experiment 1). In addition, such facilitation only develops through time for cast-shadows that have no resemblance with the body-part, but move in spatio-temporal correlation with it (Experiment 2). Conversely, facilitation fades away rapidly for shadow-like images that resemble the stimulated body-part, but are in fact static pictures (Experiment 3). Thus, recognising oneself as the owner of a shadow aVects distribution of tactile attention.
2007
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11577/1773881
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