Document Detail


A 2.5-D representation of the human hand.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  21895388     Owner:  NLM     Status:  Publisher    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Primary somatosensory maps in the brain represent the body as a discontinuous, fragmented set of two-dimensional (2-D) skin regions. We nevertheless experience our body as a coherent three-dimensional (3-D) volumetric object. The links between these different aspects of body representation, however, remain poorly understood. Perceiving the body's location in external space requires that immediate afferent signals from the periphery be combined with stored representations of body size and shape. At least for the back of the hand, this body representation is massively distorted, in a highly stereotyped manner. Here we test whether a common pattern of distortions applies to the entire hand as a 3-D object, or whether each 2-D skin surface has its own characteristic pattern of distortion. Participants judged the location in external space of landmark points on the dorsal and palmar surfaces of the hand. By analyzing the internal configuration of judgments, we produced implicit maps of each skin surface. Qualitatively similar distortions were observed in both cases. The distortions were correlated across participants, suggesting that the two surfaces are bound into a common underlying representation. The magnitude of distortion, however, was substantially smaller on the palmar surface, suggesting that this binding is incomplete. The implicit representation of the human hand may be a hybrid, intermediate between a 2-D representation of individual skin surfaces and a 3-D representation of the hand as a volumetric object. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).
Authors:
Matthew R Longo; Patrick Haggard
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Publication Detail:
Type:  JOURNAL ARTICLE     Date:  2011-9-5
Journal Detail:
Title:  Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance     Volume:  -     ISSN:  1939-1277     ISO Abbreviation:  -     Publication Date:  2011 Sep 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2011-9-7     Completed Date:  -     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  7502589     Medline TA:  J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform     Country:  -    
Other Details:
Languages:  ENG     Pagination:  -     Citation Subset:  -    
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