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Reaching with a tool extends visual-tactile interactions into far space: evidence from cross-modal extinction
A Maravita1, M Husain, K Clarke
1Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, 17 Queen Square, WC1N 3AR, London, UK. a.maravita@ucl.ac.uk
Neuropsychologia
|March 21, 2001
Summary
Patients with right hemisphere damage show visual-tactile extinction. Using tools extended this extinction, suggesting spatial re-mapping of sensory information.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Cross-modal visual-tactile extinction is observed in patients with right hemisphere lesions.
- This phenomenon involves a failure to perceive a tactile stimulus when it is accompanied by a competing visual stimulus.
Observation:
- A patient (BV) with right hemisphere damage experienced extinction of left-hand touch by a near right-hand visual stimulus.
- Moving the visual stimulus further away reduced extinction, but holding a stick that extended to the visual stimulus increased extinction.
Findings:
- Wielding a tool (stick) altered the spatial representation of the visual stimulus, making a distant stimulus perceived as near.
- This spatial re-mapping influenced the degree of cross-modal extinction, indicating a flexible integration of sensory information.
Implications:
- The findings suggest that tool use can modify sensory processing and spatial awareness.
- This research may offer insights into the neural mechanisms underlying sensorimotor integration and spatial cognition, potentially involving multimodal neurons in areas like the intraparietal sulcus.