Does the language we use to segment the body, shape the way we perceive it? A study of tactile perceptual distortions

Knight, Frances Le Cornu; Bremner, Andrew; Cowie, Dorothy

doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2019.104127

Cited by 41 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…One study [41] used an audio-tactile mismatch to create the illusion of an elongated arm, finding corresponding elongation of perceived tactile distance on the arm. There is also evidence for categorial perception of tactile distance across body-part boundaries at joints [30,[44][45][46]. Intriguingly, this is also true for speakers of Croation [46], which uses a single word (ruka) encompassing hand and arm, and thus does not lexically mark the wrist boundary as English does.…”

Section: Distorted Body Representations In Touchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is also evidence for categorial perception of tactile distance across body-part boundaries at joints [30,[44][45][46]. Intriguingly, this is also true for speakers of Croation [46], which uses a single word (ruka) encompassing hand and arm, and thus does not lexically mark the wrist boundary as English does.…”

Section: Distorted Body Representations In Touchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Distortion of mental body representations

Longo

2022

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

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Section: Distorted Body Representations In Touchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Distorted Body Representations In Touchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distortion of mental body representations

Longo

2022

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

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“…Indeed, Plaisier and colleagues (2020) suggested that the bias they found for vertical distances to be judged as larger than horizontal ones might be due to the proximity of the vertical distances to the spine. It is known that joints can function as attractors which can bias tactile localization (Cholewiak & Collins, 2003) and several studies have reported categorical perception effects for tactile distance judgments crossing joint boundaries (de Vignemont, Majid, Jola, & Haggard, 2008; Le Cornu Knight, Bremner, & Cowie, 2020;Le Cornu Knight et al, 2014). It is not clear whether the body midline functions as a categorical boundary in this way, though studies have found localization biases in the direction of the spine (Cholewiak et al, 2004;van Erp, 2005).…”

Section: One Important Consideration In Comparing Anisotropy Across Body Parts Is How Wementioning

confidence: 99%

Perception of Tactile Distance on the Back

Nicula

Longo

2021

Perception

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The perceived distance between two touches is anisotropic on many parts of the body. Generally, tactile distances oriented across body width are perceived as larger than distances oriented along body length, though the magnitude of such biases differs substantially across the body. In this study, we investigated tactile distance perception on the back. Participants made verbal estimates of the perceived distance between pairs of touches oriented either across body width or along body length on (a) the left hand, (b) the left upper back, and (c) the left lower back. There were clear tactile distance anisotropies on the hand and upper back, with distances oriented across body width overestimated relative to those along body length/height, consistent with previous results. On the lower back, however, an anisotropy in exactly the opposite direction was found. These results provide further evidence that tactile distance anisotropies vary systematically across the body and suggest that the spatial representation of touch on the lower back may differ qualitatively from that on other regions of the body.

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“…We found that there is linguistic diversity in naming body parts across three unrelated languages, but that this diversity does not determine variation in thought. Recent findings (Knight, Bremner, & Cowie, 2020) likewise demonstrate that body lexicons may not shape perception, as having a single term for the entire upper limb (in Croatian) does not impact the boundary effect of the wrist joint in tactile perception.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Carving the body at its joints: Does the way we speak about the body shape the way we think about it?

Devylder¹,

Bracks

Shimotori

et al. 2020

Lang. cogn.

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Looking at the way different linguistic communities speak about a universally shared domain of experience raises questions that are central to the language sciences. How can we compare meaning across languages? What is the interaction between language, thought, and perception? Does linguistic diversity entail linguistic relativism? The literature on the naming systems of the body across languages have addressed these questions with little consensus. In the present study, we contribute to this debate with a comparison of body part terms in French, Indonesian, and Japanese. Using an updated version of the body coloring task, we observed both diversity and cross-linguistically shared patterns. Importantly, we also observed that speakers of languages which violate the wrist/ankle joint boundary rule do not collapse the distinction in thought. This key finding goes against the conflation of language and thought and leads us to conclude that linguistic diversity does not entail linguistic relativism. Methodologically, we advocate for the use of a culturally neutral etic space as a necessary tool in semantic typology. Theoretically, we propose that language is a multilevel phenomenon, which results from the interaction of non-linguistic and cross-culturally shared embodied motivations, context-specific situated language use, and culturally specific sedimented linguistic conventions.

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Does the language we use to segment the body, shape the way we perceive it? A study of tactile perceptual distortions

Cited by 41 publications

References 45 publications

Distortion of mental body representations

Distortion of mental body representations

Perception of Tactile Distance on the Back

Carving the body at its joints: Does the way we speak about the body shape the way we think about it?

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