scholarly journals Bliss in and Out of the Body: The (Extra)Corporeal Space Is Impervious to Social Pleasant Touch

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 225
Author(s):  
Chiara Spaccasassi ◽  
Ivana Frigione ◽  
Angelo Maravita
Keyword(s):  
Body Representation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Spatial Modulation ◽  
Impact Behavior ◽  
Space Representation ◽  
Physiological Level ◽  
Affective Touch ◽  
The Real ◽  
Healthy Humans ◽  
Skin Contact

Slow, gentle stimulation of hairy skin is generally accompanied by hedonic sensations. This phenomenon, also known as (positive) affective touch, is likely to be the basis of affiliative interactions with conspecifics by promoting inter-individual bindings. Previous studies on healthy humans have demonstrated that affective touch can remarkably impact behavior. For instance, by administering the Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI) paradigm, the embodiment of a fake hand enhances after a slow, affective touch compared to a fast, neutral touch. However, results coming from this area are not univocal. In addition, there are no clues in the existing literature on the relationship between affective touch and the space around our body. To overcome these lacks, we carried out two separate experiments where participants underwent a RHI paradigm (Experiment 1) and a Visuo-Tactile Interaction task (Experiment 2), designed to tap into body representation and peripersonal space processing, respectively. In both experiments, an affective touch (CT-optimal, 3 cm/s) and neutral touch (CT-suboptimal, 18 cm/s) were delivered by the experimenter on the dorsal side of participants’ hand through a “skin to skin” contact. In Experiment 1, we did not find any modulation of body representation—not at behavioral nor at a physiological level—by affective touch. In Experiment 2, no visuo-tactile spatial modulation emerged depending upon the pleasantness of the touch received. These null findings are interpreted in the light of the current scientific context where the real nature of affective touch is often misguided, and they offer the possibility to pave the way for understanding the real effects of affective touch on body/space representation.

scholarly journals Remote hand: Hand-centered peripersonal space transfers to a disconnected hand avatar

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daisuke Mine ◽  
Kazuhiko Yokosawa
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Body Representation ◽  
Peripersonal Space ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Real ◽  
Novel Technique ◽  
Near Space ◽  
Behavioral Evidence ◽  
Real Hand

The space surrounding our body is called peripersonal space (PPS). It has been reported that visuo-tactile facilitation occurs more strongly within PPS than outside PPS. Furthermore, previous research has revealed several methods by which PPS can be extended. The present study provides the first behavioral evidence of the transfer of PPS in a virtual environment by a novel technique. PPS representation was investigated using a remote-controlled hand avatar presented far from their body in a virtual environment. Participants showed strongest visuo-tactile facilitation at the far space around the remote hand and no facilitation at the near space around the real hand, suggesting that PPS transfers from near the body to the space around the hand avatar. The present results extend previous findings of the plasticity of PPS and demonstrate flexibility of PPS representation beyond the physical and anatomical limits of body representation.

Plasticity and tool use in the body schema

2021 ◽  
pp. 117-132
Author(s):  
Daniele Romano ◽  
Angelo Maravita
Keyword(s):  
Tool Use ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Body Schema ◽  
Body Representation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Healthy Humans ◽  
Motor Information ◽  
Specific Skill

The ability of humans to manufacture objects and represent physical causality makes them the master species in the use of tools. What is the impact of such a specific skill on the processing of bodily body-related spatial information? To what extent does the skilful manipulation of tools require specific embodiment of the device into one’s body representation? The present chapter reviews the effect of tool use on the representation of the body and space surrounding it, by analysing the cognitive effects of tool use and its neural representations. Studies on animals, healthy humans, and neuropsychological patients suggest that multisensory integration of stimuli far from the body is enhanced when a tool can reach those stimuli. Such a spatial remapping indicates that the body schema may adapt to include the device into one’s body representation. Notably, tool use-related changes are not limited to spatial processing, but also to the processing of body-related sensory-motor information. Understanding the cognitive mechanisms underlying tool use and the effect of tool use in the representation of the space around us is a paramount challenge to the understanding of body representation, especially considering that modern and more sophisticated technological tools, such as functional prostheses, robotic interfaces, and virtual reality devices, continually shape the central role of the body in human–environment interactions.

scholarly journals Acute stress affects peripersonal space representation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Ellena ◽  
Tommaso Bertoni ◽  
Manon Durand-Ruel ◽  
John Thoresen ◽  
Carmen Sandi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stress Response ◽  
Acute Stress ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Peripersonal Space ◽  
The Body ◽  
Space Representation ◽  
Motor Representation ◽  
Healthy Humans ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Visuotactile Integration

Peripersonal space (PPS) is the region of space surrounding the body. It has a dedicated multisensory-motor representation, whose purpose is to predict and plan interactions with the environment, and which can vary depending on environmental circumstances. Here, we investigated the effect on the PPS representation of an experimentally induced stress response. We assessed PPS representation in healthy humans, before and after a stressful manipulation, by quantifying visuotactile interactions as a function of the distance from the body, while monitoring salivary cortisol concentration. Participants, who showed a cortisol stress response, presented enhanced visuotactile integration for stimuli close to the body and reduced for far stimuli. Conversely, individuals, with a less pronounced cortisol response, showed a reduced difference in visuotactile integration between the near and the far space. In our interpretation, physiological stress resulted in a freezing-like response, where multisensory-motor resources are allocated only to the area immediately surrounding the body.

scholarly journals Embodying their own wheelchair modifies extrapersonal space perception in people with spinal cord injury

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Scandola ◽  
Gaetano Tieri ◽  
Renato Avesani ◽  
Massimo Brambilla ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Space Perception ◽  
Body Representation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Lower Limbs ◽  
Space Representation ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Extrapersonal Space ◽  
Cord Injury

Despite the many links between body representation, acting and perceiving the environment, no research has to date explored whether specific tool embodiment in conditions of sensorimotor deprivation influences extrapersonal space perception. We tested 20 spinal cord injured (SCI) individuals to investigate whether specific wheelchair embodiment interacts with extrapersonal space representation. As a measure of wheelchair embodiment, we used a Body View Enhancement Task in which participants (either sitting in their own wheelchair or in one which they had never used before) were asked to respond promptly to flashing lights presented on their above- and below-lesion body parts. Similar or slower reaction times (RT) to stimuli on the body and wheelchair indicate, respectively, the presence or absence of tool embodiment. The RTs showed that the participants embodied their own wheelchair but not the other one. Moreover, they coded their deprived lower limbs as external objects and, when not in their own wheelchair, also showed disownership of their intact upper limbs. To measure extrapersonal space perception, we used a novel, ad-hoc designed paradigm in which the participants were asked to observe a 3D scenario by means of immersive virtual reality and estimate the distance of a flag positioned on a ramp. In healthy subjects, errors in estimation increased as the distance increased, suggesting that they mentally represent the physical distance. The same occurred with the SCI participants, but only when they were in their own wheelchair. The results demonstrate for the first time that tool-embodiment modifies extrapersonal space estimations.

scholarly journals What Did We Accomplish in Fighting Radical Species in Human Health?

Antioxidants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 466
Author(s):  
Rachid Skouta
Keyword(s):  
Reactive Oxygen Species ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Reactive Nitrogen Species ◽  
Reactive Oxygen ◽  
The Body ◽  
Reactive Nitrogen ◽  
Oxygen Species ◽  
Nitrogen Species ◽  
Radical Species ◽  
Physiological Level

Maintaining the physiological level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) in the body is highly important in the fight against radical species in the context of human health [...]

The Role of Hand Size in the Fake-Hand Illusion Paradigm

Perception ◽  
10.1068/p5853 ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 36 (10) ◽  
pp. 1547-1554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Pavani ◽  
Massimiliano Zampini
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Body Schema ◽  
Body Representation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Video Image ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Statistical Correlations ◽  
Hand Size ◽  
Visible Hand

When a hand (either real or fake) is stimulated in synchrony with our own hand concealed from view, the felt position of our own hand can be biased toward the location of the seen hand. This intriguing phenomenon relies on the brain's ability to detect statistical correlations in the multisensory inputs (ie visual, tactile, and proprioceptive), but it is also modulated by the pre-existing representation of one's own body. Nonetheless, researchers appear to have accepted the assumption that the size of the seen hand does not matter for this illusion to occur. Here we used a real-time video image of the participant's own hand to elicit the illusion, but we varied the hand size in the video image so that the seen hand was either reduced, veridical, or enlarged in comparison to the participant's own hand. The results showed that visible-hand size modulated the illusion, which was present for veridical and enlarged images of the hand, but absent when the visible hand was reduced. These findings indicate that very specific aspects of our own body image (ie hand size) can constrain the multisensory modulation of the body schema highlighted by the fake-hand illusion paradigm. In addition, they suggest an asymmetric tendency to acknowledge enlarged (but not reduced) images of body parts within our body representation.

The Doctrine of Transubstantiation in Durand's Rationale

Traditio ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 308-317
Author(s):  
Timothy M. Thibodeau
Keyword(s):  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Recent Article ◽  
The Body ◽  
Final Word ◽  
The Real ◽  
Eucharistic Theology ◽  
Real Presence ◽  
Fourth Lateran Council

In a recent article on the medieval dogma of transubstantiation, Gary Macy builds upon the works of Hans Jorissen and James F. McCue to question the validity of Jaroslav Pelikan's claim that “at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, the doctrine of the real presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist achieved its definitive formulation in the dogma of transubstantiation.” Macy demonstrates that through most of the thirteenth century, the majority of theologians did not, in fact, consider Lateran IV's decree the final word on eucharistic theology. The debate over precisely how the real presence of Christ occurred in the eucharist was far from closed.

Music in migrant camps as a medium creating non-narrative human relationships

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 347-360
Author(s):  
Julien Labia
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Personal Identity ◽  
Direct Relationship ◽  
The Body ◽  
Verbal Art ◽  
Problematic Situation ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
The Real ◽  
Musical Interactions ◽  
Expressive Activity

A migrant camp is a ‘non-place’ where personal identity is put at risk. Music is a means of personal adaptation in camps, even if it means allowing little place for the real reasons for displacement of the very people shaping these new hybridizations of music. The present power of music in such a place is to create strong relationships, ‘shortcutting’ both narration and the longer time needed in order to create relationships. The kind of personal advantage it is for someone to be a musician is a topic surprisingly forgotten, obscured by theoretical habits of seeing music essentially as an expressive activity directed to an audience, or as being a communicative activity. Music has a performative power different from language, as a non-verbal art having a strong and direct relationship to the body. Musical interactions on the field give migrants the ability to balance their problematic situation of refugees, shaping a real present.

Bodies of Meaning: Studies on Language, Labor, and Liberation. By David McNally. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000. 277p. $72.50 cloth, $23.95 paper.

2002 ◽  
Vol 96 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-191
Author(s):  
Nicholas Xenos
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Human Body ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
State University ◽  
The Real

David McNally styles this book as beginning in a polemic and ending in a “materialist approach to language” much indebted to the German critic Walter Benjamin. The charge is that “postmodernist theory, whether it calls itself poststructuralism, deconstruction or post-Marxism, is constituted by a radical attempt to banish the real human body—the sensate, biocultural, laboring body—from the sphere of language and social life” (p. 1). By treating language as an abstraction, McNally argues, postmodernism constitutes a form of idealism. More than that, it succumbs to and perpetuates the fetishism of commodities disclosed by Marx insofar as it treats the products of human laboring bodies as entities independently of them. Clearly irritated by the claims to radicalism made by those he labels postmodern, McNally thinks he has found their Achilles' heel: “The extra-discursive body, the body that exceeds language and discourse, is the ‘other’ of the new idealism, the entity it seeks to efface in order to bestow absolute sovereignty on language. To acknowledge the centrality of the sensate body to language and society is thus to threaten the whole edifice of postmodernist theory” (p. 2).

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