Perception of the size of body parts, for instance the hand, has been shown to be distorted in healthy participants, with over- and underestimations of width and length, respectively. Illusory manipulations of body shape and size have highlighted the flexibility of the body representation and have also been found to update immediate perceptions of body size and surrounding objects. Here, we examined whether underlying misperceptions of hand width and length can be modified through exposure to illusory changes in hand size using a mirror visual feedback (MVF) paradigm. While questionnaire responses indicated subjective susceptibility to both magnified and minified manipulations, objective hand size estimates only showed significant differences following exposure to minifying mirrors. These variations might reflect differences in the way that stored representations are accessed or updated in response to size manipulations. Secondly, the findings further reinforce differences between subjective and objective outcomes of illusions on subsequent body perception.
This study examined the number and nature of spatiotemporal channels in the region where the frequency-doubling (FD) illusion would be expected to occur at eight locations spanning the central 30 degrees of the visual field.
The dynamic flexibility of body representation has been highlighted through numerous lines of research that range from clinical studies reporting disorders of body ownership, to experimentally induced somatic illusions that have provided evidence for the embodiment of manipulated representations and even fake limbs. While most studies have reported that enlargement of body parts alters somatic perception, and that these can be more readily embodied, shrunken body parts have not been found to consistently alter somatic experiences, perhaps due to reduced feelings of ownership over smaller body parts. Over two experiments, we aimed to investigate the mechanisms responsible for altered somatic representations following exposure to both enlarged and shrunken body parts. Participants were given the impression that their hand and index finger were either longer or shorter than veridical length and asked to judge veridical finger length using online and offline size estimation tasks, as well as to report the degree of ownership towards the distorted finger and hand representations. Ownership was claimed over all distorted representations of the hand and finger and no differences were seen across ownership ratings, while the online and offline measurements of perceived size demonstrated differing response patterns. These findings suggest that ownership towards manipulated body representations is more bidirectional than previously thought and also suggest differences in perceived body representation with respect to the method of measurement suggesting that online and offline tasks may tap into different aspects of body representation.
Manipulating different behavioral characteristics of gambling games can potentially affect the extent to which individuals persevere at gambling, and their transition to problematic behaviors. This has potential impact for mobile gambling technologies and responsible gambling interventions. Two laboratory models pertinent to this are the partial reinforcement extinction effect (PREE) and the trial spacing effect. Both of these might speed up or delay the acquisition and extinction of conditioned behavior. We report an experiment that manipulated the rate of reinforcement and inter trial interval (ITI) on a simulated slot machine where participants were given the choice between gambling and skipping on each trial, before perseverative gambling was measured in extinction, followed by measurements of the illusion of control, depression and impulsivity. We hypothesized that longer ITI's in conjunction with the low rates of reinforcement observed in gambling would lead to greater perseverance. We further hypothesized, given that timing is known to be important in displaying illusory control and potentially in persevering in gambling, that prior exposure to longer intervals might affect illusions of control. An interaction between ITI and rate of reinforcement was observed, as low reinforced gamblers with a long ITI gambled for longer. Respondents also displayed extinction and a PREE. Gamblers exposed to a higher rate of reinforcement gambled for longer in acquisition. Impulsivity was associated with extended perseverance in extinction, and more depressed gamblers in the high reinforcement short ITI group persevered for longer. Performance in the contingency judgment failed to support the second hypothesis: the only significant contrast observed was that participants became better calibrated as the task progressed.
The rubber hand illusion (RHI) is a perceptual illusion whereby a model hand is perceived as part of one's own body. This illusion has been extensively studied, but little is known about the temporal evolution of this perceptual phenomenon, i.e., how long it takes until participants start to experience ownership over the model hand. In the present study, we investigated a version of the rubber hand experiment based on finger movements and measured the average onset time in active and passive movement conditions. This comparison enabled us to further explore the possible role of intentions and motor control processes that are only present in the active movement condition. The results from a large group of healthy participants (n = 117) showed that the illusion of ownership took approximately 23 s to emerge (active: 22.8; passive: 23.2). The 90th percentile occurs in both conditions within approximately 50 s (active: 50; passive: 50.6); therefore, most participants experience the illusion within the first minute. We found indirect evidence of a facilitatory effect of active movements compared to passive movements, and we discuss these results in the context of our current understanding of the processes underlying the moving RHI.
The rubber hand illusion (RHI) is a perceptual phenomenon in which participants experience ownership over a fake model hand through synchronous visuotactile stimulation. Several studies have shown that the illusion occurs only when both hands are in close proximity to each other. In the present study, we systematically examined the role of relative position (lateral, distal) and distance (13-75 cm) of the model hand (with respect to participants' real hand) on illusion experience across both lateral and distal positions. Furthermore, we also compared different facets of the subjective illusion experience; the experience of the model hand being part of one's body (i.e., ownership) and the perceptual fusion of vision and touch (i.e., referral of touch). In two experiments we observed indications for a stronger illusion experiences in distal compared to lateral positions of identical distances, indicating that the illusory effects may vary as a function of the relative position of the hand. Our results also showed that manipulations of distance differently modulated both facets of the illusion. While ownership was restricted to near distances, referral of touch sensations remained stable at farther distances. These results are interpreted in relation to variations in sensory weighting across different planes.
Changes in the retinal size of stationary objects provide a cue to the observer's motion in the environment: Increases indicate the observer's forward motion, and decreases backward motion. In this study, a series of images each comprising a pair of pine-tree figures were translated into auditory modality using sensory substitution software. Resulting auditory stimuli were presented in an ascending sequence (i.e. increasing in intensity and bandwidth compatible with forward motion), descending sequence (i.e. decreasing in intensity and bandwidth compatible with backward motion), or in a scrambled order. During the presentation of stimuli, blindfolded participants estimated the lengths of wooden sticks by haptics. Results showed that those exposed to the stimuli compatible with forward motion underestimated the lengths of the sticks. This consistent underestimation may share some aspects with visual size-contrast effects such as the Ebbinghaus illusion. In contrast, participants in the other two conditions did not show such magnitude of error in size estimation; which is consistent with the "adaptive perceptual bias" towards acoustic increases in intensity and bandwidth. In sum, we report a novel cross-modal size-contrast illusion, which reveals that auditory motion cues compatible with listeners' forward motion modulate haptic representations of object size.
The study aimed to investigate the impact of behavioral biases on herding for Islamic financial products with the mediation of shariah literacy. An adopted questionnaire from several published studies was used to collect data. The data were collected from 410 respondents and were analyzed with SmartPLS. The results for the direct impact showed that self-attribution, illusion of control, and information availability have a positive and significant impact on herding for Islamic financial products while shariah literacy showed an insignificant impact on herding. The results for mediation showed that previously significant and positive impact turned to insignificant when shariah literacy was introduced as mediating variable between the illusion of control, self-attribution, information availability, and herding. From a theoretical perspective, this study would contribute to the existing body of knowledge of financial decision making from shariah literacy point-out. On the other hand, the findings of this study may be useful for investors to avoid herding in the Islamic financial markets. The authors synthesize the contribution made by behavioral finance studies in extending the knowledge of herding behavior in Islamic financial products with a mediating role of shariah literacy. The key limitation of the study includes data that were collected from three districts of Punjab, Pakistan.
Research has suggested that altering the perceived shape and size of the body image significantly affects perception of somatic events. The current study investigated how multisensory illusions applied to the body altered tactile perception using the somatic signal detection task. Thirty-one healthy volunteers were asked to report the presence or absence of near-threshold tactile stimuli delivered to the index finger under three multisensory illusion conditions: stretched finger, shrunken finger and detached finger, as well as a veridical baseline condition. Both stretching and shrinking the stimulated finger enhanced correct touch detections; however, the mechanisms underlying this increase were found to be different. In contrast, the detached appearance reduced false touch reports-possibly due to reduced tactile noise, as a result of attention being directed to the tip of the finger only. These findings suggest that distorted representations of the body could have different modulatory effects on attention to touch and provide a link between perceived body representation and somatosensory decision-making.
The rubber hand illusion is a perceptual illusion of perceiving an object like a model hand as part of the own body. The question whether the illusion can be induced with noncorporal objects that do not look like a human body part is not perfectly resolved yet. In this study, we directly assessed the subjective experience of two different components within the illusion (i.e., ownership and referral of touch) when a model hand and a balloon are stimulated. We observed significantly stronger illusion ratings for the hand as compared with the balloon, and only the hand ratings showed a clear affirmation of the illusion. We further conclude that (a) a significant difference between synchronous and asynchronous conditions may not be sufficient to argue for the successful induction of the illusion and (b) the subcomponents show a different pattern in the different conditions, which may lead to alternative interpretations. These observations call for a more fine-grained interpretation of questionnaire data in rubber hand illusion studies.
Medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) are increasingly being thought of as resulting from dysfunctional modulation of interoceptive sensory signals by top-down cognitive processes. The current study investigated whether individuals with a tendency toward MUS would be more susceptible to visual illusions that suggest tactile sensation on the skin in the absence of any actual somatosensory input.
Subacromial impingement syndrome (SAIS) is a commonly diagnosed disorder of the shoulder. Though this disorder has been known for a long time, it remains a poorly understood entity. Over the years several hypotheses have been put forward to describe the pathogenesis of SAIS but no clear explanation has been found. Two mechanisms, the extrinsic and intrinsic mechanism, have been described for the impingement syndrome. The intrinsic mechanism theories which deny the existence of impingement are gaining popularity in recent years. The various shoulder tests used to diagnose SAIS have low specificity with an average of about 50%. Meta-analysis shows that neither the Neer sign nor the Hawkins sign has diagnostic utility for impingement syndrome. Several randomised controlled trials have shown that the outcome of treatment of SAIS by surgery is no better than conservative treatment. Physiotherapy alone can provide good outcome which is comparable to that achieved with surgery without the costs and complications associated with surgery. Since decompression with surgery does not provide any additional benefits as compared to conservative treatment for patients with SAIS, the impingement theory has become antiquated and surgical treatment should have no role in the treatment of such patients. There are calls by some practitioners to abandon the term impingement syndrome and rename it as anterolateral shoulder pain syndrome. It appears that SAIS is a medical myth. There are others who called SAIS as a clinical illusion.
Seeing a face being touched in spatial and temporal synchrony with the own face produces a bias in self-recognition, whereby the other face becomes more likely to be perceived as the self. The present study employed event-related potentials to explore whether this enfacement effect reflects initial face encoding, enhanced distinctiveness of the enfaced face, modified self-identity representations, or even later processing stages that are associated with the emotional processing of faces. Participants were stroked in synchrony or asynchrony with an unfamiliar face they observed on a monitor in front of them, in a situation approximating a mirror image. Subsequently, event-related potentials were recorded during the presentation of (a) a previously synchronously stimulated face, (b) an asynchronously stimulated face, (c) observers' own face, (d) filler faces, and (e) a to-be-detected target face, which required a response. Observers reported a consistent enfacement illusion after synchronous stimulation. Importantly, the synchronously stimulated face elicited more prominent N170 and P200 responses than the asynchronously stimulated face. By contrast, similar N250 and P300 responses were observed in these conditions. These results suggest that enfacement modulates early neural correlates of face encoding and facial prototypicality, rather than identity self-representations and associated emotional processes.