Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The effects of instrumental action on perceptual hand maps

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Experimental Brain Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Perceiving the external spatial location of body parts using position sense requires that immediate proprioceptive afferent signals be integrated with information about body size and shape. Longo and Haggard (Proc Natl Acad Sci 107:11727–11732, 2010) developed a method to measure perceptual hand maps reflecting this metric information about body size and shape. In this paradigm, participants indicate the perceived location of landmarks on their occluded hand by pointing with a long baton held in their other hand. By comparing the relative location of judgments of different hand landmarks, perceptual hand maps can be constructed and compared to actual hand structure. The maps show large and highly stereotyped distortions. Here, I investigated the potential effect of biases related to active motor control of the hand doing the pointing in these distortions. Participants localized the fingertip and knuckle of each finger on their occluded left hand either by actively pointing with a baton held in their right hand (pointing condition) or by giving verbal commands to an experimenter on how to move the baton (verbal condition). Similar distortions were clearly apparent in both conditions, suggesting that they are not an artifact of motor control biases related to the pointing hand.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams DC (1999) Methods for shape analysis of landmark data from articulated structures. Evol Ecol Res 1:959–970

    Google Scholar 

  • Aglioti S, DeSouza JF, Goodale MA (1995) Size-contrast illusions deceive the eye but not the hand. Curr Biol 5:679–685

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ambroziak KB, Tamè L, Longo MR (2018) Conceptual distortions of hand structure are robust to changes in stimulus information. Conscious Cogn 61:107–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anema HA, van Zandvoort MJE, de Haan EHF, Kappelle LJ, de Kort PL, Jansen BPW et al (2009) A double dissociation between somatosensory processing for perception and action. Neuropsychologia 47:1615–1620

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Azañón E, Tamè L, Maravita A, Linkenauger SA, Tajadura-Jiménez A, Longo MR (2016) Multimodal contributions to body representation. Multisens Res 29:635–661

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bookstein FL (1991) Morphometric tools for landmark data: geometry and biology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Burgess PR, Wei JY, Clark FJ, Simon J (1982) Signaling of kinaesthetic information by peripheral sensory receptors. Ann Rev Neurosci 5:171–187

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cardinali L, Brozzoli C, Urquizar C, Salemme R, Roy AC, Farnè A (2011) When action is not enough: tool-use reveals tactile-dependent access to body schema. Neuropsychologia 49:3750–3757

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carey DP, Dijkerman HC, Murphy KJ, Goodale MA, Milner AD (2006) Pointing to places and spaces in a patient with visual form agnosia. Neuropsychologia 44:1584–1594

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cocchini G, Galligan T, Mora L, Kuhn G (2018) The magic hand: plasticity of mental hand representation. Quart J Exp Psychol. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747021817741606

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coelho LA, Gonzalez CLR (2018) The visual and haptic contributions to hand perception. Psychol Res. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-017-0870-x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Coelho LA, Zaninelli G, Gonzalez CLR (2017) A kinematic examination of hand perception. Psychol Res 81:1224–1231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins DF, Refshauge KM, Todd G, Gandevia SC (2005) Cutaneous receptors contribute to kinesthesia at the index finger, elbow and knee. J Neurophysiol 94:1699–1706

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Edin BB, Johansson N (1995) Skin strain patters provide kinaesthetic information to the human central nervous system. J Physiol 487:243–251

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrè ER, Vagnoni E, Haggard P (2012) Vestibular contributions to bodily awareness. Neuropsychologia 51:1445–1452

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrell WR, Gandevia SC, McCloskey DI (1987) The role of joint receptors in human kinaesthesia when intramuscular receptors cannot contribute. J Physiol 386:63–71

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ganea N, Longo MR (2017) Projecting the self outside the body: body representations underlying proprioceptive imagery. Cognition 162:41–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goodale MA, Milner AD, Jakobson LS, Carey DP (1991) A neurological dissociation between perceiving objects and grasping them. Nature 349:154–156

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Goodwin GM, McCloskey DI, Matthews PBC (1972) The contribution of muscle afferents to kinaesthesia shown by vibration induced illusions of movement and by the effects of paralysing joint afferents. Brain 95:705–748

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jones SA, Cressman EK, Henriques DY (2010) Proprioceptive localization of the left and right hands. Exp Brain Res 204:373–383

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones SA, Fiehler K, Henriques DY (2012) A task-dependent effect of memory and hand-target on proprioceptive localization. Neuropsychologia 50:1462–1470

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kammers MPM, de Vignemont F, Verhagen L, Dijkerman HC (2009) The rubber hand illusion in action. Neuropsychologia 47:204–211

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Longo MR (2014) The effects of immediate vision on implicit hand maps. Exp Brain Res 232:1241–1247

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Longo MR (2015a) Posture modulates implicit hand maps. Conscious Cogn 36:96–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Longo MR (2015b) Intuitive anatomy: distortions of conceptual knowledge of hand structure. Cognition 142:230–235

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Longo MR (2015c) Implicit and explicit body representations. Euro Psychol 20:6–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Longo MR (2017a) Distorted body representations in healthy cognition. Quart J Exp Psychol 70:378–388

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Longo MR (2017b) Expansion of perceptual body maps near—but not across—the wrist. Front Hum Neurosci 11:111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Longo MR, Haggard P (2010) An implicit body representation underlying human position sense. Proc Natl Acad Sci 107:11727–11732

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Longo MR, Haggard P (2012a) A 2.5-D representation of the human hand. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 38:9–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Longo MR, Haggard P (2012b) Implicit body representations and the conscious body image. Acta Psychol 141:164–168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Longo MR, Morcom R (2016) No correlation between distorted body representations underlying tactile distance perception and position sense. Front Hum Neurosci 10:593

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Longo MR, Azañón E, Haggard P (2010) More than skin deep: body representation beyond primary somatosensory cortex. Neuropsychologia 48:655–668

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Longo MR, Long C, Haggard P (2012) Mapping the invisible hand: a body model of a phantom limb. Psychol Sci 23:740–742

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Longo MR, Mancini F, Haggard P (2015a) Implicit body representations and tactile spatial remapping. Acta Psychol 160:77–87

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Longo MR, Mattioni S, Ganea N (2015b) Perceptual and conceptual distortions of implicit hand maps. Front Hum Neurosci 9:656

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lopez C, Schreyer H-M, Preuss N, Mast FW (2012) Vestibular stimulation modifies the body schema. Neuropsychologia 50:1830–1837

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macefield G, Gandevia SC, Burke D (1990) Perceptual responses to microstimulation of single afferents innervating joints, muscles and skin of the human hand. J Physiol 429:113–129

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Matthews PBC (1972) The mammalian muscle receptors and their central actions. Edward Arnold, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Mattioni S, Longo MR (2014) The effects of verbal cueing on implicit hand maps. Acta Psychol 153:60–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Medina J, Duckett C (2017) Domain-general biases in spatial localization: evidence against a distorted body model hypothesis. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 43:1430–1443

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milner AD, Goodale MA (1995) The visual brain in action. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Napier J (1980) Hands. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Oldfield RC (1971) The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh inventory. Neuropsychologia 9:97–113

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Paillard J, Michel F, Stelmach G (1983) Localization without content: a tactile analogue of ‘blindsight’. Ann Neurol 40:548–551

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pavani F, Boscagli I, Benvenuti F, Rabuffetti M, Farnè A (1999) Are perception and action affected differently by the Titchner circles illusion? Exp Brain Res 127:95–101

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pisella L, Binkofski F, Lasek K, Toni I, Rossetti Y (2006) No double-dissociation between optic ataxia and visual agnosia: multiple sub-streams for multiple visuo-manual integrations. Neuropsychologia 44:2734–2748

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Proske U, Gandevia SC (2009) The kinaesthetic senses. J Physiol 587:4139–4146

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Proske U, Gandevia SC (2012) The proprioceptive senses: their roles in signaling body shape, body position and movement, and muscle force. Physiol Rev 92:1651–1697

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rohlf FJ, Slice DE (1990) Extensions of the Procrustes method for the optimal superimposition of landmarks. Syst Zool 39:40–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rossetti Y, Rode G, Boisson D (1995) Implicit processing of somaesthetic information: a dissociation between where and how? NeuroReport 6:506–510

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Saulton A, Dodds TJ, Bülthoff HH, de la Rosa S (2015) Objects exhibit body model like shape distortions. Exp Brain Res 233:1471–1479

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saulton A, Longo MR, Wong HY, Bülthoff HH, de la Rosa S (2016) The role of visual similarity and memory in body model distortions. Acta Psychol 164:103–111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saulton A, Bülthoff HH, de la Rosa S (2017) Conceptual biases explain distortion differences between hand and objects in localization tasks. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 43:1444–1453

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stone KD, Keizer A, Dijkerman HC (2018) The influence of vision, touch, and proprioception on body representation of the lower limbs. Acta Psychol 185:22–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tamè L, Bumpus N, Linkenauger SA, Longo MR (2017) Distorted body representations are robust to differences in experimental instructions. Atten Percept Perform 79:1204–1216

    Google Scholar 

  • Wann JP, Ibrahim SF (1992) Does limb proprioception drift? Exp Brain Res 91:162–166

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by European Research Council Grant ERC-2013-StG-336050 under the FP7.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HX, UK

    Matthew R. Longo

Authors
  1. Matthew R. Longo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matthew R. Longo.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The author declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Longo, M.R. The effects of instrumental action on perceptual hand maps. Exp Brain Res 236, 3113–3119 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-018-5360-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-018-5360-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation