No Telescoping Effect with Dual Tendon Vibration.
The tendon vibration illusion has been extensively used to manipulate the perceived position of one's own body part. However, findings from previous research do not seem conclusive sregarding the perceptual effect of the concurrent stimulation of both agonist and antagonist tendons over one joint. On the basis of recent data, it has been suggested that this paired stimulation generates an inconsistent signal about the limb position, which leads to a perceived shrinkage of the limb. However, this interesting effect has never been replicated. The aim of the present study was to clarify the effect of a simultaneous and equal vibration of the biceps and triceps tendons on the perceived location of the hand. Experiment 1 replicated and extended the previous findings. We compared a dual tendon stimulation condition with single tendon stimulation conditions and with a control condition (no vibration) on both 'upward-downward' and 'towards-away from the elbow' planes. Our results show a mislocalisation towards the elbow of the position of the vibrated arm during dual vibration, in line with previous results; however, this did not clarify whether the effect was due to arm representation contraction (i.e., a 'telescoping' effect). Therefore, in Experiment 2 we investigated explicitly and implicitly the perceived arm length during the same conditions. Our results clearly suggest that in all the vibration conditions there was a mislocalisation of the entire arm (including the elbow), but no evidence of a contraction of the perceived arm length.
Sansom Institute for Health Research, University of South Australia, Adelaide 5001, & PainAdelaide, Adelaide, Australia.|Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan 20126, & NeuroMI-Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milano, Italy.
Valeria
V
Bellan
Sansom Institute for Health Research, University of South Australia, Adelaide 5001, & PainAdelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
Sarah B
SB
Wallwork
Sansom Institute for Health Research, University of South Australia, Adelaide 5001, & PainAdelaide, Adelaide, Australia.|Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, Randwick, 2031, Australia.
Tasha R
TR
Stanton
Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan 20126, & NeuroMI-Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milano, Italy.
Carlo
C
Reverberi
Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan 20126, & NeuroMI-Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milano, Italy.
Alberto
A
Gallace
Sansom Institute for Health Research, University of South Australia, Adelaide 5001, & PainAdelaide, Adelaide, Australia.|Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, Randwick, 2031, Australia.
G Lorimer
GL
Moseley
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001132:Arm / Q000502:physiology; D001828:Body Image; D004550:Elbow / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005542:Forearm / Q000502:physiology; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D011434:Proprioception / Q000502:physiology; D057566:Self Report; D013710:Tendons / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014732:Vibration; D014953:Wrist / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult