Manual matching of perceived surface orientation is affected by arm posture: evidence of calibration between proprioception and visual experience in near space

Abstract

Proprioception of hand orientation (orientation production using the hand) is compared with manual matching of visual orientation (visual surface matching using the hand) in two experiments. In Experiment 1, using self-selected arm postures, the proportions of wrist and elbow flexion spontaneously used to orient the pitch of the hand (20% and 80% respectively) are relatively similar across both manual matching tasks and manual orientation production tasks for most participants. Proprioceptive error closely matched perceptual biases previously reported for visual orientation perception, suggesting calibration of proprioception to visual biases. A minority of participants, who attempted to use primarily wrist flexion while holding the forearm horizontal, performed poorly at the manual matching task, consistent with proprioceptive error caused by biomechanical constraints of their self-selected posture. In Experiment 2, postural choices were constrained to primarily wrist or elbow flexion without imposing biomechanical constraints (using a raised forearm). Identical relative offsets were found between the two constraint groups in manual matching and manual orientation production. The results support two claims: (1) manual orientation matching to visual surfaces is based on manual proprioception and (2) calibration between visual and proprioceptive experiences guarantees relatively accurate manual matching for surfaces within reach despite systematic visual biases in perceived surface orientation.

Perceived azimuth direction is exaggerated: Converging evidence from explicit and implicit measures

“…With regard to perceived slant, evidence of consistent and systematic orientation biases have been reported in the haptic perception of slant (Durgin & Li, 2012 ; Hajnal, Abdul-Malak, & Durgin, 2011 ; Shaffer & McManama, 2015 ) as well as in the proprioception of hand orientation (Li & Durgin, 2012b ). With respect to perceived azimuth direction, angular scale expansion has additionally been discovered in the vestibular perception of heading direction (e.g., Cuturi & MacNeilage, 2013 ).…”

Distances on hills look farther than distances on flat ground: Evidence from converging measures

“…One is that the haptic measure may be limited by biomechanics (cf. Li & Durgin, 2012) that prevented a genuine increase in perceived slant to be measured. Another is that the haptic measure could be driven by processing in the dorsal pathway (cf.…”

The social psychology of perception experiments: Hills, backpacks, glucose, and the problem of generalizability.

“…This free hand method of manual matching has been shown to be much more sensitive than the traditional palm board -- perhaps because it removes many of the artificial biomechanical constraints associated with palm boards. Li and Durgin (2011a) showed that free hand manual matching techniques were correlated with verbal reports (see also Li & Durgin, 2011b). For near surfaces manual gestures tend to be quite well calibrated whereas, like verbal methods, they overestimate far surfaces (see Li & Durgin, 2010).…”