Are human bodies represented differently from other objects? Experience shapes object representations

Reed, Catherine L.; McGoldrick, John E.; Shackelford, Jennifer; Fidopiastis, Cali M.

doi:10.1080/13506280344000428

Cited by 34 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Furthermore, in Reed's study, the number of categories was mostly given in the instructions and therefore influenced the participants' sorting process, whereas in SDA, the number of clusters solely depends on the participant's pair-wise sorting behaviour in order to avoid a strong top-down influence of superordinate concepts. In this respect, we argue that the method applied by Reed et al (2004) facilitates a third-person-view and decisions based on declarative knowledge structures and thereby addresses general body semantics to a much stronger extent than the SDA method does.…”

Section: Measuring Body Representations Via Sdamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Proximity data are acquired successively by multilateral, multiple sorting of items, which allows for an extremely fine grading in proximity scaling. In a study by Reed et al (2004), a sorting task was applied in which cards with pictures of human body parts had to be assigned to two, three, four and a free number of categories. In contrast to the SDA's hierarchical splitting process that is based on multiple pair-wise comparisons, subjects in the study by Reed et al (2004) performed only one sorting procedure for the whole stimulus set per instruction.…”

Section: Measuring Body Representations Via Sdamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a study by Reed et al (2004), a sorting task was applied in which cards with pictures of human body parts had to be assigned to two, three, four and a free number of categories. In contrast to the SDA's hierarchical splitting process that is based on multiple pair-wise comparisons, subjects in the study by Reed et al (2004) performed only one sorting procedure for the whole stimulus set per instruction. Furthermore, in Reed's study, the number of categories was mostly given in the instructions and therefore influenced the participants' sorting process, whereas in SDA, the number of clusters solely depends on the participant's pair-wise sorting behaviour in order to avoid a strong top-down influence of superordinate concepts.…”

Section: Measuring Body Representations Via Sdamentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The functional architecture of the human body: assessing body representation by sorting body parts and activities

2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The functional architecture of the human body: assessing body representation by sorting body parts and activitiesBläsing, B; Schack, T; Brugger, P Bläsing, B; Brugger, P (2010 The functional architecture of the human body: assessing body representation by sorting body parts and activities. Abstract We investigated mental representations of body parts and body-related activities in two subjects with congenitally absent limbs (one with, the other without phantom sensations), a wheelchair sports group of paraplegic participants, and two groups of participants with intact limbs. To analyse mental representation structures, we applied Structure Dimensional Analysis. Verbal labels indicating body parts and related activities were presented in randomized lists that had to be sorted according to a hierarchical splitting paradigm. Participants were required to group the items according to whether or not they were considered related, based on their own body perception. Results of the groups of physically intact and paraplegic participants revealed separate clusters for the lower body, upper body, Wngers and head. The participant with congenital phantom limbs also showed a clear separation between upper and lower body (but not between Wngers and hands). In the participant without phantom sensations of the absent arms, no such modularity emerged, but the speciWc practice of his right foot in communication and daily routines was reXected. Sorting verbal labels of body parts and activities appears a useful method to assess body representation in individuals with special body anatomy or function and leads to conclusions largely compatible with other assessment procedures.2

show abstract

Section: Measuring Body Representations Via Sdamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Measuring Body Representations Via Sdamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Measuring Body Representations Via Sdamentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The functional architecture of the human body: assessing body representation by sorting body parts and activities

2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Psychology and linguistics both recognize body parts as an important semantic category (Reed, McGoldrick, Shackelford, & Fidopiastis, 2004). Psychological studies emphasize the visual features of body parts, individuating them by shape, size, and spatial orientation, or by "geons" delimited by visual discontinuities (Andersen, 1978;Biederman, 1987;Brown, 1976).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Segmenting the Body into Parts: Evidence from Biases in Tactile Perception

Vignemont

Majid

Jola

et al. 2009

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

130

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

How do we individuate body parts? Here, we investigated the effect of body segmentation between hand and arm in tactile and visual perception. In a first experiment, we showed that two tactile stimuli felt farther away when they were applied across the wrist than when they were applied within a single body part (palm or forearm), indicating a “category boundary effect”. In the following experiments, we excluded two hypotheses, which attributed tactile segmentation to other, nontactile factors. In Experiment 2, we showed that the boundary effect does not arise from motor cues. The effect was reduced during a motor task involving flexion and extension movements of the wrist joint. Action brings body parts together into functional units, instead of pulling them apart. In Experiments 3 and 4, we showed that the effect does not arise from perceptual cues of visual discontinuities. We did not find any segmentation effect for the visual percept of the body in Experiment 3, nor for a neutral shape in Experiment 4. We suggest that the mental representation of the body is structured in categorical body parts delineated by joints, and that this categorical representation modulates tactile spatial perception.

show abstract

“…It has been suggested that the perception of animate actions might be "special", in the sense that actions are processed in a qualitatively unique way, supported by a specialised architecture hard-wired in the brain (e.g., Grossman, Donnely, Price, Morgan, Pickens, Neighbor, & Blake, 2000;Lestou, Pollick, & Kourtzi, 2008;Peuskens, Vanrie, Verfaillie, & Orban, 2005;Reed, McGoldrick, Shackelford, & Fidopiastis, 2004;Vaina, Solomon, Chowdhury, Sinha, & Belliveau, 2001). However, it is hard to envision how the animacy of the moving object could moderate the transsaccadic benefit for moving objects over stationary objects (but see Orban de Xivry, Coppe, Lefèvre, & Missal, 2010, for a report on the influence of biological motion on smooth pursuit).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transsaccadic Memory for the Position of Stationary and Translating Biologicalmotion Walkers

2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Previous research demonstrated an advantage for translating objects over stationary objects in transsaccadic displacement detection. However, in some studies, this benefit was absent. The current study was designed in order to clarify the basis of these contradictory findings. To this end, the procedure of an experiment with a clear motion benefit was combined with the stimuli of a study in which the motion benefit was absent. Participants saccaded towards either a stationary or a translating point-light walker and had to detect the intrasaccadic displacement of either the saccade target or the saccade flanker. Intrasaccadic displacements of the translating walker were found to be easier to detect than displacements of the stationary walker. Furthermore, displacements of the saccade target walker were better detected than displacements of the flanking walker. Implications for the previously contradictory observations are discussed and an explanation is proposed emphasising the differential importance of spatiotopic coding when a viewer is engaged in smooth object pursuit rather than having a stable fixation before making a saccade towards a translating object.

show abstract

Are human bodies represented differently from other objects? Experience shapes object representations

Cited by 34 publications

References 0 publications

The functional architecture of the human body: assessing body representation by sorting body parts and activities

The functional architecture of the human body: assessing body representation by sorting body parts and activities

Segmenting the Body into Parts: Evidence from Biases in Tactile Perception

Transsaccadic Memory for the Position of Stationary and Translating Biologicalmotion Walkers

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About