Lost in space: multisensory conflict yields adaptation in spatial representations across frames of reference

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Embodied Cognition
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Embodied cognition posits that bodily interactions shape our perception of self and space.
• Peripersonal space representation is crucial for navigating and interacting with the environment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the adaptive nature of spatial representations.
• To understand how multisensory conflicts influence body and space perception.

Main Methods:

• Used immersive virtual reality to create visual-proprioceptive conflicts.
• Participants performed bimanual interaction tasks with gradually shifted visual hand representations.
• Assessed adaptation using self-localization and external localization tasks.

Main Results:

• Observed adaptation in both self- and external-localization tasks.
• Adaptation effects varied based on localization task type and visual feedback (virtual hand visibility).
• Demonstrated that hand localization relies on multisensory integration modulated by sensory saliency and reference frames.

Conclusions:

• The brain actively integrates sensory information to maintain consistent body and spatial estimates.
• Sensory conflicts trigger adaptive recalibration across multiple reference frames.
• This research highlights the dynamic and adaptive nature of spatial perception in embodied agents.