Self-localisation and pain: what is the link?
Recent findings from various studies showed the relevance of body localisation for the processing of stimuli delivered on the body. For example, Gallace and colleagues (2011) showed that crossing the arms over the body midline has an analgesic effect and this is likely due to a mismatch between different body representation systems (i.e. usually, the right hand occupies the right space, while the left hand occupies the left space). In a series of experiments (Bellan et al., 2017; Bellan et al., 2015), we manipulated the participants’ hands position by creating a mismatch between the visually encoded position of the hands and the proprioceptively encoded position, by means of a machine called MIRAGE (Newport & Gilpin, 2011). We demonstrated that participants tend to rely heavily on vision before proprioception. In my talk I will show some recent data on the effect of experimentally-induced pain (electrical stimulation) and chronic pain (CRPS and non-CRPS types) in hand localisation.
Lunedì 18 dicembre 2017, ore 14.30
Sala Lauree del Dipartimento di Psicologia, U6 (3° piano)
Tutti gli interessati sono invitati a partecipare.
Per informazioni:
Prof. Alberto Gallace