Effects of Gaze Position on Touch Localization

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorHarris, Laurence
dc.creatorPritchett, Lisa Marie
dc.date.accessioned2016-09-20T17:14:01Z
dc.date.available2016-09-20T17:14:01Z
dc.date.copyright2016-03-10
dc.date.issued2016-09-20
dc.date.updated2016-09-20T17:14:01Z
dc.degree.disciplinePsychology (Functional Area: Brain, Behaviour & Cognitive Science
dc.degree.levelDoctoral
dc.degree.namePhD - Doctor of Philosophy
dc.description.abstractPrevious research has shown that the direction of gaze relative to the body affects the perceived location of touch, and has argued that these effects indicate that a gaze-centered reference frame is used for touch localization. In this dissertation I examine a discrepancy in the existing literature: why do different studies report opposite directions of effects when eye and head positions are manipulated separately? I resolve this discrepancy by showing that it is not due to whether eye or head position is manipulated (chapter 2) but is in fact due to the nature of the task (chapter 3). I also find that the effect occurs on the back of the body (chapter 4), a body part that is not normally in view and thus would be less likely to use gaze as a reference point. I test theories for why these effects occur (chapter 5), and find that results are compatible with the perceived location of a touch being attracted towards the location of gaze, at least for perceptual measures. When location was reported by pointing, an action-based measure, I find no effect of gaze direction on touch localization, suggesting that a gaze-independent reference frame is used for action. These behavioral results are complementary to recent neurophysiological and neuroimaging findings indicating that spatial locations are coded in a range of different reference frames, and indicate that gaze-related reference frames are behaviorally relevant in tactile localization.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/32282
dc.language.isoen
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subjectPhysiological psychology
dc.subject.keywordsPerception
dc.subject.keywordsTouch
dc.subject.keywordsTactile
dc.subject.keywordsReference frames
dc.subject.keywordsGaze
dc.subject.keywordsEye
dc.subject.keywordsHead
dc.titleEffects of Gaze Position on Touch Localization
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Pritchett_Lisa_M_2016_PhD.pdf
Size:
11.7 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.83 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
YorkU_ETDlicense.txt
Size:
3.38 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download

Collections

Psychology (Functional Area: Brain, Behaviour & Cognitive Science)

All items in the YorkSpace institutional repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved except where explicitly noted.