PPIG: Philosophy, Psychology, and Informatics Group
Presenter: Alisa Mandrigin (University of Warwick)
Title: The scope of spatial illusions: Rethinking the rubber hand
Abstract: You sit at a table with both hands in front of you, resting on the table. You feel the stroking of a paintbrush on your left hand, but this hand is hidden from view. Instead what you see is a rubber hand, which is also being stroked in synchrony with the stroking that you feel on your left hand. What is the consequence of inter-sensory spatial conflict of this kind?
For the most part, discussions of and investigation into the rubber hand illusion (RHI) have focused on its status as an illusion of ownership. What has hitherto been assumed and left unquestioned is that the RHI paradigm also gives rise to spatial illusions within tactile experience and bodily awareness.
In this paper I examine what it is to experience a spatial illusion both within and across the senses, argue that evidence from RHI experiments is, for the most part, largely misinterpreted, and propose a novel explanation of RHI results in terms of the mechanisms underlying our capacity to make judgements about cross-modal spatial relations.
Further information
We are a group of researchers from diverse backgrounds in the above-mentioned groups (and beyond) who aim to gain an interdisciplinary yet deep understanding of the threads that bind the human mind and the world. In particular, this seminar series focuses on the nature of cognition, metacognition and social cognition. We’ll be tackling questions such as, what does it mean to think? What does it mean to think about thinking? And, what does it mean to think about one’s own thinking versus thinking about the thinking of other people? Please come along!
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Contact details
PPIG: Philosophy, Psychology, and Informatics Group
Room 1.17, Dugald Stewart Building, 3 Charles Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AD