The influence of hands posture on mental rotation of hands and feet

Ionta, Silvio; Fourkas, Alissa D.; Fiorio, Mirta; Aglioti, Salvatore Maria

doi:10.1007/s00221-007-1020-2

Cited by 185 publications

(168 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…A longer preparation time with a fixed thumb might have increased the influence of the participants' own hand posture, potentially eliciting a stronger posture effect. This assumption, however, is contradicted by the finding that in studies in which a posture effect was observed, no adaptation time was applied previous to the experiment, but the posture was adopted only during the experiment [9,10]. In both experiments, medial-over-lateral-advantage (MOLA) was found regularly for stimuli in palmar view, but not for stimuli in dorsal view.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…He concluded that movements performed mentally would induce motor imagery and would therefore be constrained by anatomical joint characteristics in a similar way as real movements [14]. The use of motor imagery strategies in mental rotation of hands has been corroborated by many authors [e.g., 9,14,23]. Evidence for motor imagery being involved in mental rotation of body parts comes from clinical cases [e.g., 3,4,12,16] and from neuroimaging studies (see [22] for review).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sirigu and Duhamel [18] showed an inhibiting influence of hand position on body part imagery in an egocentric first person perspective. Mental rotation of hands, but not feet, was found to be slower when the participants were keeping their hands behind their backs with interleaved fingers than when their hands were placed on their knees [9]. The authors argued that current hand posture should influence limb-specific laterality decisions via the body schema in a bottom-up manner.…”

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Does thumb posture influence the mental rotation of hands?

Bläsing

Brugger

Weigelt

et al. 2013

Neuroscience Letters

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The function of thumb posture in mental rotation has not yet been studied intensely, despite its special role in manual action. To investigate if thumb posture modifies relative visual and proprioceptive contributions, we conducted two experiments comprising hand laterality judgement tasks with identical stimuli (left and right hands in palmar and dorsal views presented at four orientations). In half of the stimuli, all digits were extended, whereas in the other half the thumb was flexed into the palm of the hand. In the second experiment, participants' thumbs were taped in the same flexed posture that was displayed in half of the stimuli one hour previous to and throughout the experiment. Results of both experiments revealed effects of orientation, side and view on reaction time, but an effect of stimulus thumb posture occurred only in the second experiment in which participants' thumbs were fixed. In palmar view, stimuli rotated by 90°with fingers pointing toward the participant's midline had shorter reaction times than stimuli rotated (evidentially less comfortably) in the opposite direction. This finding suggests that participants applied motor imagery strategies for palmar but not for dorsal views of the hand, indicating a difference in visual and sensorimotor familiarity. AbstractThe function of thumb posture in mental rotation has not yet been regarded intensely, despite of the specific role of the thumb in manual action. To investigate whether thumb posture would modify the relative visual and proprioceptive contributions, we conducted two experiments with identical stimuli (left and right hands in palmar and dorsal views presented at four orientations) in which participants were asked to give handedness judgements. In half of the stimuli, the thumb was extended like the other digits, in the other half the thumb was flexed into the palm of the hand. In the second experiment, the participant's thumbs were fixed in the same posture as displayed in half of the stimulus pictures; thumbs were taped to the palm of the hands one hour previous to and throughout the experiment. Results of both experiments revealed effects of orientation, side and view on reaction time, but an effect of stimulus thumb posture occurred only in the second experiment in which the participants' thumbs were fixed. Medial-over-lateral advantage as indicator of motor imagery was found only for palmar stimuli, suggesting that participants applied different strategies for the different views of the hand, probably based on different visual and sensorimotor familiarity. IntroductionMental rotation of human body parts, especially hands, has been found to differ essentially from mental rotation of abstract objects [13,17]. Using a handedness paradigm in which participants had to decide if a displayed hand was a right or left one, Parsons [13,14] showed that RTs were not only influenced by the rotation angle of the hand stimulus but also by the implicit awkwardness of the displayed hand position. He concluded that movements performed...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Does thumb posture influence the mental rotation of hands?

Bläsing

Brugger

Weigelt

et al. 2013

Neuroscience Letters

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“…Endpoint measures (response time and accuracy) were defined as in Ionta et al [25]. Therefore response times <500 or >3500 ms were excluded from analysis, and accuracy reflects correct responses.…”

Section: Data Handlingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, if people are requested to judge the laterality of hands and feet pictures, while varying the posture of their own hands but not of their feet, then response time varies for hands' judgement but not for feet [25]. Moreover, mental rotation of body parts seems to be influenced by both central and peripheral factors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Egocentric and object-based transformations in the laterality judgement of human and animal faces and of non-corporeal objects

Ionta

Fourkas

Aglioti

2010

Behavioural Brain Research

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Step‐by‐step: The effects of physical practice on the neural correlates of locomotion imagery revealed by fMRI

Ionta¹,

Ferretti²,

Tartaro³

et al. 2009

Human Brain Mapping

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Previous studies have shown that mental imagery is a suitable tool to study the progression of the effect of practice on brain activation. Nevertheless, there is still poor knowledge of changes in brain activation patterns during the very early stages of physical practice. In this study, early and late practice stages of different kinds of locomotion (i.e., balanced and unbalanced) have been investigated using functional magnetic resonance imaging during mental imagery of locomotion and stance. During the task, cardiac activity was also recorded. The cerebral network comprising supplementary motor area, basal ganglia, bilateral thalamus, and right cerebellum showed a stronger activation during the imagery of locomotion with respect to imagery of stance. The heart beat showed a significant increase in frequency during the imagery of locomotion with respect to the imagery of stance. Moreover, early stages of practice determined an increased activation in basal ganglia and thalamus with respect to late stages. In this way, it is proposed the modulation of the brain network involved in the imagery of locomotion as a function of physical practice time. Hum Brain Mapp 31:694-702,

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The influence of hands posture on mental rotation of hands and feet

Cited by 185 publications

References 38 publications

Does thumb posture influence the mental rotation of hands?

Does thumb posture influence the mental rotation of hands?

Egocentric and object-based transformations in the laterality judgement of human and animal faces and of non-corporeal objects

Step‐by‐step: The effects of physical practice on the neural correlates of locomotion imagery revealed by fMRI

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