How our body influences our perception of the world

Abstract

Incorporating the fact that the senses are embodied is necessary for an organism to interpret sensory information. Before a unified perception of the world can be formed, sensory signals must be processed with reference to body representation. The various attributes of the body such as shape, proportion, posture, and movement can be both derived from the various sensory systems and can affect perception of the world (including the body itself). In this review we examine the relationships between sensory and motor information, body representations, and perceptions of the world and the body. We provide several examples of how the body affects perception (including but not limited to body perception). First we show that body orientation effects visual distance perception and object orientation. Also, visual-auditory crossmodal-correspondences depend on the orientation of the body: audio “high” frequencies correspond to a visual “up” defined by both gravity and body coordinates. Next, we show that perceived locations of touch is affected by the orientation of the head and eyes on the body, suggesting a visual component to coding body locations. Additionally, the reference-frame used for coding touch locations seems to depend on whether gaze is static or moved relative to the body during the tactile task. The perceived attributes of the body such as body size, affect tactile perception even at the level of detection thresholds and two-point discrimination. Next, long-range tactile masking provides clues to the posture of the body in a canonical body schema. Finally, ownership of seen body parts depends on the orientation and perspective of the body part in view. Together, all of these findings demonstrate how sensory and motor information, body representations, and perceptions (of the body and the world) are interdependent.

The Graphesthesia Paradigm: Drawing Letters on the Body to Investigate the Embodied Nature of Perspective-Taking

“…We can also hypothesize that perspective-taking is affected by other characteristics of the body such as morphology, flexibility, and body size. Such a role of the body is in line with the view that multisensory external information is integrated with information concerning the body state for perception (for a review, see Harris et al., 2015 ).…”

Supramodal agnosia for oblique mirror orientation in patients with periventricular leukomalacia

“…Previous studies on healthy adult subjects showed that gravitational vestibular signals can modulate orientation threshold suggesting that some orientation mechanisms are linked to vestibular coordinates ( Harris et al., 2015 , Lacquaniti et al., 2015 , Mikellidou et al., 2015 ). Altering gravitational and vestibular cues, by asking the subjects to perform the task while lying on a bed or with their head tilted, did not change the results.…”

The Representation of Body Size: Variations With Viewpoint and Sex

“…This may be a further support for the special relationship that the front and back of the body have with each other. The representations of the front and back of the body may be mapped together by the brain (Parsons and Shimojo, 1987;D' Amour and Harris, 2014;Harris et al, 2015;Hoover and Harris, 2015;Tamè et al, 2016). Thus, any distortion of one would be reflected in a comparable distortion of the other (see Figure 3).…”

“…We use our body to present ourselves and to perceive and interact in the world. Knowledge about body posture, position, size, and structure are required to interpret and react to sensory information that is constantly being received and that may be coded relative to the body (Kopinska and Harris, 2003;Harris et al, 2015). Processing sensations and generating actions requires the brain to accurately map and represent the body and the body-in-space.…”