Have you ever felt a force field around your body?
Our brains are aware not just of our bodies but also the immediate space around us. Now, a twist on the classic rubber hand illusion can make people “feel” this space – a sensation they liken to perceiving a Force Field.
Neuroscientists have known for decades that our brains contain representations of the area surrounding us, known as peripersonal space. This allows us to grasp objects within our reach and helps to protect us.
Imagine you are walking through the woods talking to a companion, when a low-hanging branch suddenly appears in your peripheral vision. You’ll instinctively duck to avoid it: your sense of peripersonal space has prevented you from banging your head.
Hard neuroscientific evidence on the phenomenon appeared in the late 1990s in animal studies. Michael Graziano of Princeton University, New Jersey, and his colleagues recorded the electrical activity of neurons in the parietal and frontal lobes of the brains of monkeys, finding that some neurons fired not only when an object touched part of the body, but also when the object came near it.
Recommended: What Is Aura
When the researchers directly stimulated such neurons, they found that the monkeys would reflexively move their heads and limbs as if defending themselves – for example, grimacing and closing their eyes, turning their heads to one side and putting up their arms in a protective posture.
Although no one has repeated the experiments in humans, there is evidence that certain regions of our brain specifically deal with peripersonal space.
For instance, some people who suffer strokes in the right posterior parietal lobe cannot sense peripersonal stimuli on the left side of their bodies, but can sense things that are further away, outside the peripersonal space on that side.
Sensory Trick
At least, that’s the theory. Now, Guterstam and his colleagues have tricked humans into actually feeling our peripersonal space.
To do so, they turned to the well-known rubber hand illusion. In the standard form of this illusion, the experimenter uses a paintbrush to stroke a volunteer’s hand (which is hidden from view) and an adjacent, visible rubber hand.
The stroking is done simultaneously at the same speed and place on both the real and rubber hand. Within minutes, most people report feeling the touch of the brushstrokes on the rubber hand as if it belonged to them.
Researchers noticed that the illusion didn’t work if the rubber hand was too far away from the real hand.
In the new study, which involved 101 adults, the researchers made one important change to the experiment. They never brushed the rubber hand directly. Instead, they moved the brush above the rubber hand, again at the same time as brushstrokes that touched the real hand.
Recommended: 5 Easy Steps to Start Seeing The Aura
This meant the volunteer felt touch on their real hand but watched the brush move in mid-air, say, about 10 centimetres above the rubber hand.
Most volunteers reported feeling a Magnetic Force or Force Field between the paintbrush and the rubber hand below – as if the brush was encountering an invisible barrier.“We can elicit this bizarre sensation of there actually being something in mid-air between the brush and the rubber hand,” says Guterstam. The volunteers also felt a sense of ownership of the rubber hand.
The team found that the illusion disappears when the brushstrokes are more than about 30-40 centimetres above the rubber hand. This distance seems to be the limit of the peripersonal space of any given body part.
Recommended: The Seven Layers Of The Aura
The illusion of the Force Field also disappears if there is an opaque metal barrier between the rubber hand and the brush. Because the barrier makes it impossible for the hand to reach up and grasp anything, or for anything to hit the hand, the space above is now not peripersonal space, Guterstam speculates.
“This is a wonderful study,” says Graziano. “For decades, the neuroscience of the parietal and frontal lobes has filled in our knowledge of the special margin of safety, or buffer zone, around the body. Now we have a clever way to get at the phenomenon through an illusion that is easy to implement in the lab.”
The fun part about this experiment is that you can do it at home. Try it out and let us know that you think about it in the comments below.
Originally written by Anil Ananthaswamy and published on New Scientist
Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be book-marking and checking back frequently!
geinoutime.com
그러나 Hu Kaishan은 진지하게 받아들이지 않고 양손으로 창을 단단히 잡고 먼 곳을 응시했습니다.
I’ll right away clutch your rss as I can’t find your email subscription hyperlink or e-newsletter service. Do you’ve any? Please permit me realize in order that I could subscribe. Thanks.
Spot on with this write-up, I truly assume this web site wants far more consideration. I’ll most likely be once more to read much more, thanks for that info.
I really like your writing style, wonderful information, thankyou for posting : D.
Great write-up, I am normal visitor of one’s site, maintain up the excellent operate, and It is going to be a regular visitor for a long time.
와일드 웨스트 골드
Fang Jifan은 깊은 미소를 지으며 Zhu Houzhao에게 “전하, 먼저 시도해보십시오. “라고 말했습니다.
I have been surfing online greater than three hours nowadays, but I never found any attention-grabbing article like yours. It’s beautiful price sufficient for me. Personally, if all site owners and bloggers made excellent content as you probably did, the net will probably be a lot more helpful than ever before. “Learn to see in another’s calamity the ills which you should avoid.” by Publilius Syrus.
슈가 러쉬
왜냐하면… 상황이 그가 가장 보고 싶지 않은 방향으로 발전했기 때문입니다.
Impressive! But, seriously, why are there so many English comments and emojis?
I’d perpetually want to be update on new posts on this web site, saved to bookmarks! .
Almost all of the things you claim is supprisingly legitimate and that makes me ponder why I had not looked at this in this light previously. Your piece truly did turn the light on for me personally as far as this subject goes. But at this time there is one particular issue I am not really too comfortable with and whilst I make an effort to reconcile that with the central theme of your position, allow me see exactly what the rest of the visitors have to say.Very well done.
Good write-up, I am regular visitor of one¦s website, maintain up the nice operate, and It’s going to be a regular visitor for a long time.
My brother suggested I might like this blog. He was entirely right. This post actually made my day. You can not imagine just how much time I had spent for this info! Thanks!
I dugg some of you post as I cerebrated they were invaluable handy
I like this web blog its a master peace ! Glad I found this on google .
리액툰즈
“뭐?” Zhu Houzhao와 Liu Jin은 모두 Fang Jifan을 바라 보았습니다.
I gotta favorite this site it seems invaluable extremely helpful
You are my inhalation, I own few web logs and sometimes run out from to post .
라이즈 오브 올림푸스
Fang Jifan은 이빨을 비비고 Zhu Houzhao를 응시했지만 말문이 막혔습니다.
whoah this weblog is wonderful i really like reading your articles. Keep up the good paintings! You know, a lot of individuals are looking round for this information, you could help them greatly.
This is why I keep coming back, phenomenal content!
Keep working ,impressive job!
Right now it appears like BlogEngine is the best blogging platform out there right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you’re using on your blog?
라이즈 오브 올림푸스
그것은 쉽게 방향타를 돌린 다음 빠르게 전함과 마주했습니다.
Thanks , I’ve recently been searching for information about this subject for ages and yours is the greatest I’ve discovered so far. But, what about the bottom line? Are you sure about the source?
I see something really special in this site.
리액툰즈
이때 홍지황제는 한숨을 쉬며 “아이들을 데려가라”고 말했다.
Howdy just wanted to give you a quick heads up and let you know a few of the images aren’t loading correctly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different browsers and both show the same outcome.
톰 오브 매드니스
Jiang Wen의 Lun 스카프는 잃어버렸고, 그의 머리는 흐트러져 있다.이 평화로운 질문을 듣는다.