Tactile feedback improves distance perception of sound sources located in peripersonal space

HÜG, M. X.; VERGARA, R.; TOMMASINI, F. C.; ETCHEMENDY, P.; BERMEJO, F.; FERNANDEZ, L.

Villa Carlos PAz

Congreso; Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Neurociencias 2019; 2019

SAN

We conducted an experiment in which the participants had to est imate if a sound source was reachable (auditory peripersonal space, APS ) and to estimate its distance (auditory distance perception, ADP) by reaching to a small loudspeaker. Participants were assigned to Experimental (EG) and Control (CG) groups. They resolved three conditions in the following order: Pretest Test Posttest. In Test condition, the CG repeated the same task performed in Pretest and Posttest without any feedback, whereas the EG resolved a tactile exploration phase in which they were able to tou ch the sound source. We studied the effects of tactile exploration feed back on both reaching measures. We characterize the participants?responses and provide evidence that tactile exploration feedb ack significantly reduces the response bias of both the pe rceived boundary of the APS and the ADP of sound sources located within reach. In case of CG, the repetition of the task does not affect APS and ADP accuracy, but improves the performance consistency.