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Updated: Dec 17, 2025
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Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments
Published on: January 23, 2017
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Shared contributions of the head and torso to spatial reference frames across spatial judgments.
Matthew R Longo1, Sampath S Rajapakse1, Adrian J T Alsmith2
1Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, United Kingdom.
Cognition
|June 30, 2020
Summary
Spatial judgments use both head and torso reference frames, with torso weighting more heavily. These body part contributions are consistent across different spatial tasks and individual people.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Human Spatial Cognition
Background:
- Egocentric frames of reference utilize the body as the origin for spatial coordinates.
- The body is an extended object with independently moving parts, complicating spatial reference frames.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if body part weightings in spatial judgments are shared across different spatial axes and tasks.
- To apply the novel misalignment paradigm to a perspective-taking task.
Main Methods:
- Participants performed left/right and front/back judgments on a ball's position relative to a person with a misaligned head and torso.
- The misalignment paradigm quantified the contribution of head and torso to spatial judgments.
Main Results:
- Both head and torso contributed to spatial judgments, with a greater average weight given to the torso.
- Individual differences in body part weighting were correlated across judgment types, indicating shared weightings.
- Retesting revealed high stability of these weightings over several months.
Conclusions:
- Spatial judgments rely on a shared set of stable body part weightings across different spatial axes.
- These findings suggest that egocentric spatial reference frames are characterized by stable individual differences in body part contributions.
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