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Sensation at the tips of invisible tools

Nature Neuroscience volume 4, pages 979–980 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

When we touch something with a tool, we feel the touch at the tip of the tool1,2, rather than at the hand that holds the tool. Here we show that the judgment of the temporal order of two successive stimuli, delivered to the tips of sticks held in each hand, was dramatically altered by crossing the sticks without changing the positions of the hands, where the actual mechanoreceptors are located. This provides experimental evidence for the referral of tactile signals to the tip of a tool in the hand.

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Figure 1: The temporal order judgment of two stimuli delivered to the tips of two drumsticks with the sticks uncrossed (a, b)/crossed (c, d) and with the arms uncrossed (a, c)/crossed (b, d).

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Acknowledgements

This work was partly supported by an HFSP Research Grant to S.K. We thank K. Kawano for comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroscience Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, 1-1-1 Umezono, Tsukuba, 305-8568, Japan

    Shinya Yamamoto & Shigeru Kitazawa

  2. PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Corporation, 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi, 332-0012, Japan

    Shinya Yamamoto & Shigeru Kitazawa

  3. Doctoral Program in Medical Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, 305-8575, Japan

    Shinya Yamamoto

Authors
  1. Shinya Yamamoto
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  2. Shigeru Kitazawa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shinya Yamamoto.

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Yamamoto, S., Kitazawa, S. Sensation at the tips of invisible tools. Nat Neurosci 4, 979–980 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn721

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