Gestalt grouping effects on tactile information processing: when touching hands override spatial proximity.

Using a tactile variant of the negative-priming paradigm, we analyzed the influence of Gestalt grouping on the ability of participants to ignore distracting tactile information. The distance between participants' hands, to which the target and distractor stimuli were simultaneously delivered, w...

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Main Authors: Frings, C, Spence, C
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2013
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author Frings, C
Spence, C
author_facet Frings, C
Spence, C
author_sort Frings, C
collection OXFORD
description Using a tactile variant of the negative-priming paradigm, we analyzed the influence of Gestalt grouping on the ability of participants to ignore distracting tactile information. The distance between participants' hands, to which the target and distractor stimuli were simultaneously delivered, was varied (near/touching hands vs. hands far apart). In addition, the influence of touching hands was controlled, as participants wore gloves and their hands were blocked from vision by a cover. The magnitude of the tactile negative-priming effect was modulated by the interaction between hand separation and whether or not gloves were worn. When the hands were touching, negative priming emerged only while wearing gloves that prevented direct skin-to-skin contact. In contrast, when the separation between the participants' hands was larger, negative priming emerged only when gloves were not worn. This pattern of results is interpreted in terms of the competing influences of two interacting Gestalt principles--namely, connectedness and proximity--on the processing of tactile distractors.
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spelling oxford-uuid:7e506ce3-1f83-425a-8477-cb34bdc22c652022-03-26T21:09:24ZGestalt grouping effects on tactile information processing: when touching hands override spatial proximity.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:7e506ce3-1f83-425a-8477-cb34bdc22c65EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2013Frings, CSpence, CUsing a tactile variant of the negative-priming paradigm, we analyzed the influence of Gestalt grouping on the ability of participants to ignore distracting tactile information. The distance between participants' hands, to which the target and distractor stimuli were simultaneously delivered, was varied (near/touching hands vs. hands far apart). In addition, the influence of touching hands was controlled, as participants wore gloves and their hands were blocked from vision by a cover. The magnitude of the tactile negative-priming effect was modulated by the interaction between hand separation and whether or not gloves were worn. When the hands were touching, negative priming emerged only while wearing gloves that prevented direct skin-to-skin contact. In contrast, when the separation between the participants' hands was larger, negative priming emerged only when gloves were not worn. This pattern of results is interpreted in terms of the competing influences of two interacting Gestalt principles--namely, connectedness and proximity--on the processing of tactile distractors.
spellingShingle Frings, C
Spence, C
Gestalt grouping effects on tactile information processing: when touching hands override spatial proximity.
title Gestalt grouping effects on tactile information processing: when touching hands override spatial proximity.
title_full Gestalt grouping effects on tactile information processing: when touching hands override spatial proximity.
title_fullStr Gestalt grouping effects on tactile information processing: when touching hands override spatial proximity.
title_full_unstemmed Gestalt grouping effects on tactile information processing: when touching hands override spatial proximity.
title_short Gestalt grouping effects on tactile information processing: when touching hands override spatial proximity.
title_sort gestalt grouping effects on tactile information processing when touching hands override spatial proximity
work_keys_str_mv AT fringsc gestaltgroupingeffectsontactileinformationprocessingwhentouchinghandsoverridespatialproximity
AT spencec gestaltgroupingeffectsontactileinformationprocessingwhentouchinghandsoverridespatialproximity