title: Adaptation aftereffects reveal that tactile distance is a basic somatosensory feature.
abstract: The stage at which processing of tactile distance occurs is still debated. We addressed this issue by implementing an adaptation-aftereffect paradigm with passive touch. We demonstrated the presence of a strong aftereffect, induced by the simultaneous presentation of pairs of tactile stimuli. After adaptation to two different distances, one on each hand, participants systematically perceived a subsequent stimulus delivered to the hand adapted to the smaller distance as being larger. We further investigated the nature of the aftereffects, demonstrating that they are orientation- and skin-region-specific, occur even when just one hand is adapted, do not transfer either contralaterally or across the palm and dorsum, and are defined in a skin-centered, rather than an external, reference frame. These characteristics of tactile distance aftereffects are similar to those of low-level visual aftereffects, supporting the idea that distance perception arises at early stages of tactile processing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London WC1E 7HX, United Kingdom.|Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Calzolari
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London WC1E 7HX, United Kingdom; eazanyon@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Azañón
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London WC1E 7HX, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Danvers
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy.|Neuropsychological Laboratory, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico Istituto Auxologico Italiano, 20122 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7015-0117
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vallar
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London WC1E 7HX, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Matthew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Longo
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D000328:Adult; D004215:Distance Perception; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology*; D055698:Touch Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: adaptation; aftereffects; somatosensory processing; tactile distance; touch