Where is the Ego in Egocentric Representation? M Longo1, A Alsmith2 |
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1Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, United Kingdom |
| Egocentric spatial representations have the body as their point of reference. Bodies, however, are not points, but extended objects with distinct parts which can move independently. Where on the body is the origin of the egocentric reference frame? We investigated this question by dissociating the role of the head and torso in determining simple deictic spatial judgments of whether an object is to someone’s right or to their left. Birds-eye images of a person were shown on a monitor with the head turned 45° to the right or left. On each trial, a ball appeared at one of three distances and participants judged whether the ball was to the person’s left or to their right. The contribution of angular deviation from both the head and the torso to judgments was quantified using multiple regression. Both the head and torso made independent contributions to judgments, indicating that there is no single egocentric reference frame for deictic judgments. However, the contribution of the torso was significantly larger than that of the head, demonstrating that judgments are not simply an average of each reference frame. |
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