Now You Feel it, Now You Don't: How Robust is the Phenomenon of Illusory Tactile Experience?

McKenzie, Kirsten; Poliakoff, Ellen; Brown, Richard J.; Lloyd, David T.

doi:10.1068/p6401

Cited by 31 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 38 publications

(39 reference statements)

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“…Inclusion of the simultaneous task irrelevant light was also found to significantly increase vibration reports regardless of whether or not one was present; leading to increases in both hit rates and false-alarm rates. This result replicates previous findings (Johnson, Burton & Ro, 2006;Lloyd et al, 2008;McKenzie, Poliakoff, Brown et al, 2010;Mirams et al, 2010) and suggests that if visual information is available, participants incorporate it into decisions about ambiguous somatic events, even when such visual information is entirely task-irrelevant.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Multisensory distortions of the hand have differential effects on tactile perception

2015

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Research has suggested that altering the perceived\ud shape and size of the body image significantly\ud affects perception of somatic events. The current study\ud investigated how multisensory illusions applied to the body\ud altered tactile perception using the somatic signal detection\ud task. Thirty-one healthy volunteers were asked to report the\ud presence or absence of near-threshold tactile stimuli delivered\ud to the index finger under three multisensory illusion\ud conditions: stretched finger, shrunken finger and detached\ud finger, as well as a veridical baseline condition. Both\ud stretching and shrinking the stimulated finger enhanced\ud correct touch detections; however, the mechanisms underlying\ud this increase were found to be different. In contrast,\ud the detached appearance reduced false touch reports—possibly\ud due to reduced tactile noise, as a result of attention\ud being directed to the tip of the finger only. These findings\ud suggest that distorted representations of the body could\ud have different modulatory effects on attention to touch and\ud provide a link between perceived body representation and\ud somatosensory decision-making

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Multisensory distortions of the hand have differential effects on tactile perception

2015

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“…The use of visual stimuli is not directly related to MUS, but it serves as an example in order to create a laboratory model of MUS. This process is understood as a phenomenon of normal multisensory integration, not as a consequence of conditioning [10]. Mirams, Poliakoff, Brown, and Lloyd [11] found that attending to the body had an effect on the number of false alarms (FAs) (i.e., illusory touch experiences) in the SSDT paradigm.…”

Section: The Somatic Signal Detection Paradigmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Vice versa, illusory tactile sensations and an enhancement of tactile sensitivity can be triggered by visual stimuli [9][10][11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tactile perceptual processes and their relationship to medically unexplained symptoms and health anxiety

Katzer

Oberfeld

Hiller

et al. 2011

Journal of Psychosomatic Research

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“…The light stimulus is expected to trigger illusory touch perceptions by activating representations of the tactile stimulus in the light-only condition (Lloyd et al, 2008). Within the paradigm, this effect is attributed to normal multisensory integration, rather than potential conditioning processes between the light and tactile stimulus (McKenzie, Poliakoff, Brown, & Lloyd, 2010). Attending to the body also has an effect on false-alarm rates: for example, illusory touch experiences are significantly more likely in light-present trials when participants have the opportunity to look at their hand (Mirams, Poliakoff, Brown, & Lloyd, 2010).…”

Section: The Somatic Signal Detection Paradigmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tactile perceptual processes and their relationship to somatoform disorders.

Katzer

Oberfeld

Hiller

et al. 2012

Journal of Abnormal Psychology

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The Somatic Signal Detection Task (SSDT) is a recent paradigm serving to examine perceptual processes likely relevant for somatoform disorders. We tested whether touch illusions are more easily induced in individuals suffering from somatoform disorders (SFD) and whether their perceptual threshold for tactile stimuli is lower compared to healthy controls. Thirty-three participants with SFD and 32 healthy controls reported whether they recognized near-threshold tactile stimuli at their fingertip, which were presented in half of the test trials. With a probability of 0.5, an auxiliary visual stimulus was additionally presented. Tactile detection thresholds, tactile sensitivity, response bias, and the rate of false-positive perceptions of the tactile stimulus were assessed. In both groups, the light stimulus led to an amelioration of tactile sensitivity as well as to a more liberal response style. The SFD group was characterized by a more liberal response bias in the first half of the light-absent condition compared to the healthy controls. Within the SFD group, the report of somatoform (especially pseudoneurological) symptoms correlated positively with illusory tactile perceptions in the SSDT. Tactile thresholds in the SSDT were measured reliably (r tt ϭ .86) and were significantly lower in the SFD group. The notion that general perceptual dispositions influence the formation of symptom perception may thus complement cognitive models of SFD.Keywords: Somatic Signal Detection Task, somatoform disorders, medically unexplained symptoms, tactile detection threshold, response bias Somatoform symptoms, also called "medically unexplained symptoms" (MUS), are a common phenomenon in primary health care settings (De Waal, Arnold, Eckhof, & van Hemert, 2004). Afflicted persons suffer from bodily complaints that cannot be explained sufficiently by medical conditions. Various models of somatoform disorders (SFD) have been developed, but the precise etiology of MUS and SFD is still unknown (Brown, 2004;Witthöft & Hiller, 2010). Most of the current models assume an interaction of cognitive and perceptual somatosensory processes that lead to behavioral, affective, and biological consequences. Cognitivebehavioral models emphasize factors like catastrophizing, bodyfocused attentional styles, and excessive illness behavior, for example, "doctor shopping," leading in combination to vicious circles that amplify symptom perception (Barsky, Wyshak, & Klerman, 1990;Rief, Hiller, & Margraf, 1998).According to a recently proposed filter model (Rief & Barsky, 2005), the perception of MUS is determined by factors that increase the likelihood of bodily signals (e.g., overarousal, sensitization), on the one hand, and factors that decrease activity of filter systems, on the other hand (e.g., selective attention, lack of distraction). The combination of these two factors could result in the perception of symptoms, which most individuals normally would not experience.Brown (2004) proposed an integrative, conceptual model of MUS focusing on cogniti...

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Now You Feel it, Now You Don't: How Robust is the Phenomenon of Illusory Tactile Experience?

Cited by 31 publications

References 38 publications

Multisensory distortions of the hand have differential effects on tactile perception

Multisensory distortions of the hand have differential effects on tactile perception

Tactile perceptual processes and their relationship to medically unexplained symptoms and health anxiety

Tactile perceptual processes and their relationship to somatoform disorders.

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