We are perceiving environment tactually in various situations. Does the perception of tactile timing change depending on the stimulated body parts or how we touch? In this research, we focused on how temporal information is combined under the influence of two distances-somatotopic and spatiotopic. Which distance is important for temporal processing? We provide two experiments to investigate this question. By using two stimuli with short intervals, we can judge simultaneity. With a long interval, two stimuli can be separated, and the time interval can be evaluated. As a result, we found that somatotopic coordinates clearly influence these processes. Conversely, they are not based on spatiotopic coordinates. Furthermore it was suggested that the judgment mechanism for about 1 second of timing information exists in the early stage of temporal processing, where even the coordinate frame remapping of somatotopic to spatiotopic has not yet been completed. Depends on how we touch stimuli the perceived temporal interval would be slightly changed.
['Shinobu Kuroki', 'Junji Watanabe', 'Naoki Kawakami', 'Susumu Tachi']
How is tactile timing information integrated-, somatotopically or spatiotopically?