Face recognition has been the focus of multiple studies, but little is still known on how we represent the structure of one's own face. Most of the studies have focused on the topic of visual and haptic face recognition, but the metric representation of different features of one's own face is relatively unknown. We investigated the metric representation of the face in young adults by developing a proprioceptive pointing task to locate face landmarks in the first-person perspective. Our data revealed a large overestimation of width for all face features which resembles, in part, the size in somatosensory cortical representation. In contrast, face length was compartmentalised in two different regions: upper (underestimated) and bottom (overestimated); indicating size differences possibly due to functionality. We also identified shifts of the location judgments, with all face areas perceived closer to the body than they really were, due to a potential influence of the self-frame of reference. More importantly, the representation of the face appeared asymmetrical, with an overrepresentation of right side of the face, due to the influence of lateralization biases for strong right-handers. We suggest that these effects may be due to functionality influences and experience that affect the construction of face structural representation, going beyond the parallel of the somatosensory homunculus.

Implementation of visuo-spatial, somatosensory, and motor information leads to the formation of internal body representations (de Vignemont, Majid, Jola, & Haggard, 2009; Longo, Azañón, & Haggard, 2010). Internal spatial representations are crucial to successfully interact with the environment as they provide information about our body size, shape, and its position in space (e.g., Longo & Haggard, 2010). The relationship between body parts and surrounding space is a stable association allowing a constant reciprocal remapping (Romano, Marini, & Maravita, 2017). Distorted body representations are linked to psychiatric disorders, such as anorexia (Spitoni et al., 2015), and neurological syndromes, such as personal neglect (Baas et al., 2011) and asomatognosia (e.g., Vallar & Ronchi, 2009). Patients with spinal cord injuries, whose sensorymotor information is compromised, show difficulties in constructing coherent body representations of the affected body part (e.g.,

Objective: Personal neglect (PN) refers to a form of hemi-inattention toward the contralesional body space and it usually occurs following a right brain lesion. Recent studies suggest that PN indicates a disorder of body representation. Specifically, patients with PN show difficulties in identifying differences between left and right hands and have an altered visuospatial body map, which is associated with disrupted mental body representations. However, the metric representation of the body, and in particular the hands, has not been systematically addressed in patients showing this form of neglect. Method:In the present study, we have investigated this representation by testing the perceived hands' width of 11 hemiplegic patients with right hemisphere cerebral lesions (5 with PN) and 12 healthy controls on a judgment of passability task. Patients and controls were asked to imagine inserting their hand (left and right) through a series of vertical apertures of different sizes and to judge whether their hand could fit through. Due to the heterogeneity of the data, both parametric and non-parametric approaches were used. Furthermore, additional single-case analyses were conducted by using Crawford and Howell's (1998) method.Results: Study findings showed that patients with PN showed a significant underestimation of the left hand compared with their right hand. In contrast, whilst the right hand was equally distorted in both patients' groups, the hemiplegic patients with no evidence of PN tended to perceive the affected hand as larger than their ipsilesional one. Conclusions:In line with the literature, our findings confirm an underlying distorted body representation following right brain damage. However, for the first time, we report both a quantitative and qualitative difference in impact of hemiplegia and PN on body representation of the contralesional body space.

The representation of the metrics of the hands is distorted, but is susceptible to malleability due to expert dexterity (magicians) and long-term tool use (baseball players). However, it remains unclear whether modulation leads to a stable representation of the hand that is adopted in every circumstance, or whether the modulation is closely linked to the spatial context where the expertise occurs. To this aim, a group of 10 experienced Sign Language (SL) interpreters were recruited to study the selective influence of expertise and space localisation in the metric representation of hands. Experiment 1 explored differences in hands’ size representation between the SL interpreters and 10 age-matched controls in near-reaching (Condition 1) and far-reaching space (Condition 2), using the localisation task. SL interpreters presented reduced hand size in near-reaching condition, with characteristic underestimation of finger lengths, and reduced overestimation of hands and wrists widths in comparison with controls. This difference was lost in far-reaching space, confirming the effect of expertise on hand representations is closely linked to the spatial context where an action is performed. As SL interpreters are also experts in the use of their face with communication purposes, the effects of expertise in the metrics of the face were also studied (Experiment 2). SL interpreters were more accurate than controls, with overall reduction of width overestimation. Overall, expertise modifies the representation of relevant body parts in a specific and context-dependent manner. Hence, different representations of the same body part can coexist simultaneously.

No abstract