Journal article
Differential effect of one versus two hands on visual processing
Cognition, Vol.133(1), pp.232-237
10/2014
DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2014.06.014
PMID: 25058412
Abstract
Hand position in the visual field influences performance in several visual tasks. Recent theoretical accounts have proposed that hand position either (a) influences the allocation of spatial attention, or (b) biases processing toward the magnocellular visual pathway. Comparing these accounts is difficult as some studies manipulate the distance of one hand in the visual field while others vary the distance of both hands, and it is unclear whether single and dual hand manipulations have the same impact on perception. We ask if hand position affects the spatial distribution of attention, with a broader distribution of attention when both hands are near a visual display and a narrower distribution when one hand is near a display. We examined the effects of four hand positions near the screen (left hand, right hand, both hands, no hands) on both temporal and spatial discrimination tasks. Placing two hands near the display compared to two hands distant resulted in improved sensitivity for the temporal task and reduced sensitivity in the spatial task, replicating previous results. However, the single hand manipulations showed the opposite pattern of results. Together these results suggest that visual attention is focused on the graspable space for a single hand, and expanded when two hands frame an area of the visual field.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Differential effect of one versus two hands on visual processing
- Creators
- William S Bush - Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, United States. Electronic address: william-bush@uiowa.eduShaun P Vecera - Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, United States
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Cognition, Vol.133(1), pp.232-237
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.cognition.2014.06.014
- PMID
- 25058412
- NLM abbreviation
- Cognition
- ISSN
- 0010-0277
- eISSN
- 1873-7838
- Publisher
- Netherlands
- Grant note
- DOI: 10.13039/100000001, name: National Science Foundation, award: 1151209
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 10/2014
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
- Record Identifier
- 9984001105302771
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