Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 17, 2026
04:40
Tactile Semiautomatic Passive-Finger Angle Stimulator (TSPAS)
Published on: July 30, 2020
Object-guided spatial selection in touch without concurrent changes in the perceived location of the hands
Helge Gillmeister1, Simona Cantarella, Ana Ioana Gheorghiu
1Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, UK. helge@essex.ac.uk
Experimental Psychology
|October 11, 2012
Summary
Attentional costs for tactile perception are reduced when hands hold a common object, regardless of hand separation. This suggests spatial attention flexibly adapts to object grouping, influencing tactile processing.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Human Perception
Background:
- Spatial attention influences sensory processing.
- The role of object representation in spatial attention is crucial for understanding perception.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how object ownership affects spatial attention costs in tactile perception.
- To determine if grouping objects influences attentional separation between hands.
Main Methods:
- Endogenous cueing paradigm with central visual cues.
- Speeded tactile target detection at hands positioned close or far apart.
- Hands either held separate objects or a single common object.
Main Results:
- Response time costs for attending to the incorrect hand were reduced when hands held a common object.
- This effect was observed irrespective of hand separation (close or far apart).
- Holding a common object decreased attentional separability without altering perceived hand distance.
Conclusions:
- Tactile events are processed within a flexible spatial framework that adapts to attentional demands guided by object ownership.
- Object grouping can reduce attentional costs, suggesting a unified spatial representation for tactile events at the hands.
- Perceptual coordinates of hands are maintained even when attentional demands are modulated by object integration.
