Abstract
When we drop an object from our hands, we use internal models of both our body height and object-motion to predict when it will hit the floor. What happens if the sensory feedback finally received from the impact conflicts with this prediction? The present study shows that such conflict results in changes in the internal estimates of our body height: When the object people dropped takes longer than expected to hit the floor, they report feeling taller and behave as if their legs were longer. This provides the first evidence of cross-modal recalibration of body-height representations as a function of changes in the distant environment. Crucially, the recalibration results from a mismatch between the predicted and actual outcome of an action, the ball’s release and impact, which are causally-related but separated in space and time. These results suggest that implicit models of object-motion can interact with implicit and explicit models of one’s body height.
Highlights
People rely on estimates of their body size whenever they reach for objects, avoid obstacles or manipulate tools [1,2,3]
The decrease in step size from pre- to postadaptation was larger in the post-test2 than in the post-test1, but this effect was independent of the ‘height condition’
In Experiment 1, we had formulated the hypothesis that adaptation to an increase in simulated height of the ball drop would result in individuals taking a shorter step in the step task in the double and triple height conditions, as compared to the actual height condition, assuming that that step length would suffice to reach the remembered position
Summary
People rely on estimates of their body size whenever they reach for objects, avoid obstacles or manipulate tools [1,2,3]. We tested whether such calibration can occur for more distant feedback and predictions: Building on evidence that the brain is able to predict objects’ motion in a gravitational environment, we hypothesized that the feedback received from an object dropped from one’s hand will lead to a recalibration of one’s internalized body size. To support to this claim, we tested whether one’s body-representation is updated when the predicted and actual impact of an object dropped on the floor do not match.
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