Publications

Publication details [#14219]

Liu, Yuqi and Jared Medina. 2018. Integrating Multisensory Information Across External And Motor-based Frames Of Reference. Cognition 173 : 75–86. 12 pp.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Place, Publisher
Amsterdam: Elsevier
ISBN
100277

Abstract

The illusion of the mirror box makes subjects claim their hand is situated where it appears to be, even when their hand is in a position that does not correspond to its reflection. This illusion (involving multiple senses) is greater on occasions when their two hands are moving at the same time. These occasions are when the eye and the proprioceptor receive information that corresponds to frames of reference at the motor level (focused on the effector) and at an external level (i.e. focused on components of the effector). In order to look further into the topic of motor and external correspondence among multiple senses, participants were asked to move their hands in the same positions (for example with palms facing upwards) or in opposite positions (with one palm facing upwards and the other facing downwards). They were also asked to pat their hands at the same time or at different times. When their hands were in opposite positions, the movements did not match to the frame of reference at the motor level. This was also true the other way around. Three experiments were performed. In these, subjects were more likely to claim the illusory hand was theirs rather than seeking correspondence at the motor level. These results show that external reflections have a greater influence than motor actions or motor performance when more than one sense is being perceived. The results of this research can be used with computational models that deal with multisensory integration.