title: Attenuated self-tickle sensation even under trajectory perturbation.
abstract: The efference copy account of the tickle effect (i.e., our inability to tickle ourselves) predicts no tickle effect (i.e., an ability to tickle ourselves) when the trajectory of a tactile stimulus is perturbed relative to the associated movement, and there is evidence in support of this. The active inference account, however, predicts the tickle effect should survive trajectory perturbation. We test these accounts of the tickle effect under the hypothesis that previous findings are due to attentional modulation, and that the tickle effect will be found in a paradigm with no conscious attention directed to the trajectory perturbation. We thus expected to find support for active inference. Our first experiment confirms this hypothesis, while our second seeks to explain previous findings in terms of the modulation of the tickle sensation when there is awareness of, and different degrees of attention to, the spatial tactile and kinesthetic trajectories.
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences and Psychology, Federation University, Northways Road, Churchill, Victoria 3842, Australia. Electronic address: george.vandoorn@federation.edu.au.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Van Doorn
authors.affiliation: Cognition & Philosophy Laboratory, Monash University, Clayton Road, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia. Electronic address: bryan.paton@monash.edu.
authors.forename: Bryan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Paton
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences and Psychology, Federation University, Northways Road, Churchill, Victoria 3842, Australia. Electronic address: jacqui.howell@federation.edu.au.
authors.forename: Jacqui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Howell
authors.affiliation: Cognition & Philosophy Laboratory, Monash University, Clayton Road, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia. Electronic address: jakob.hohwy@monash.edu.
authors.forename: Jakob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hohwy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007699:Kinesthesis / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology*; D055698:Touch Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Active inference; Efference copy; Self- and externally-generated movement; Tickle