Noninformative vision improves the spatial resolution of touch in humans
Noninformative vision improves the spatial resolution of touch in humans
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DOI：
10.1016/s0960-9822(01)00327-x
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发表时间：
2001-08-07
期刊：
影响因子：
9.2
通讯作者：
Haggard, P
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kennett, S;Taylor-Clarke, M;Haggard, P
现在，感官知觉的研究经常同时考虑一种以上的感觉。这种方法反映了现实世界的情况，例如当一个可见的物体接触我们时。事实上，视觉和触觉表现出很大的相互依赖性：身体部位的视觉可以减少触觉目标检测时间[1]，视觉和触觉注意力系统在空间上是相连的[2]，用指尖主动触摸的表面的纹理是用视觉和触觉感知的[3]。然而，这些先前的发现可能是由空间注意力[1，2]或通过视觉增强的身体位置感[4-6]改善运动指导[3]介导的。在这里，我们调查的直接影响，查看身体上的被动触摸。我们测量了前臂上的触觉两点辨别阈值[7]，同时操纵手臂的可见性，但保持注视方向不变。当手臂可见时，触摸的空间分辨率比不可见时更好。当手臂的视图被放大时，触觉性能得到进一步改善。相比之下，在手臂的位置观察中性物体并没有改善性能，排除了改善空间定向作为一个可能的原因。对照组证实，手臂的可见度没有提供关于触觉刺激的信息。这种触觉的视觉增强可能指向触觉感受野的在线重组。
Research on sensory perception now often considers more than one sense at a time. This approach reflects real-world situations, such as when a visible object touches us. Indeed, vision and touch show great interdependence: the sight of a body part can reduce tactile target detection times [1], visual and tactile attentional systems are spatially linked [2], and the texture of surfaces that are actively touched with the fingertips is perceived using both vision and touch [3]. However, these previous findings might be mediated by spatial attention [1, 2] or by improved guidance of movement [3] via visually enhanced body position sense [4-6]. Here, we investigate the direct effects of viewing the body on passive touch. We measured tactile two-point discrimination thresholds [7] on the forearm while manipulating the visibility of the arm but holding gaze direction constant. The spatial resolution of touch was better when the arm was visible than when it was not. Tactile performance was further improved when the view of the arm was magnified. In contrast, performance was not improved by viewing a neutral object at the arm's location, ruling out improved spatial orienting as a possible account. Controls confirmed that no information about the tactile stimulation was provided by visibility of the arm. This visual enhancement of touch may point to online reorganization of tactile receptive fields.