When ears drive hands: the influence of contact sound on reaching to grasp

Gilbert, S., Castiello, U., Giordano, B.L., Begliomini, C., Ansuini, C. and Grassi, M. (2010) When ears drive hands: the influence of contact sound on reaching to grasp. PLoS ONE, 5(8), e12240. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0012240)

Abstract

Background Most research on the roles of auditory information and its interaction with vision has focused on perceptual performance. Little is known on the effects of sound cues on visually-guided hand movements.

Methodology/Principal Findings We recorded the sound produced by the fingers upon contact as participants grasped stimulus objects which were covered with different materials. Then, in a further session the pre-recorded contact sounds were delivered to participants via headphones before or following the initiation of reach-to-grasp movements towards the stimulus objects. Reach-to-grasp movement kinematics were measured under the following conditions: (i) congruent, in which the presented contact sound and the contact sound elicited by the to-be-grasped stimulus corresponded; (ii) incongruent, in which the presented contact sound was different to that generated by the stimulus upon contact; (iii) control, in which a synthetic sound, not associated with a real event, was presented. Facilitation effects were found for congruent trials; interference effects were found for incongruent trials. In a second experiment, the upper and the lower parts of the stimulus were covered with different materials. The presented sound was always congruent with the material covering either the upper or the lower half of the stimulus. Participants consistently placed their fingers on the half of the stimulus that corresponded to the presented contact sound.

Conclusions/Significance Altogether these findings offer a substantial contribution to the current debate about the type of object representations elicited by auditory stimuli and on the multisensory nature of the sensorimotor transformations underlying action.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Giordano, Dr Bruno
• Authors: Gilbert, S., Castiello, U., Giordano, B.L., Begliomini, C., Ansuini, C., and Grassi, M.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
• Journal Name: PLoS ONE
• ISSN: 1932-6203
• ISSN (Online): 1932-6203
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2010 The Authors
• First Published: First published in PLoS ONE 5(8):e12240
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher