Vanessa Harrar | Université de Montréal (original) (raw)

Papers by Vanessa Harrar

Research paper thumbnail of Touch used to guide action is partially coded in a visual reference frame

Experimental Brain Research, 2010

The perceived location of touch on the skin is affected by the position of the eyes in the head, ... more The perceived location of touch on the skin is affected by the position of the eyes in the head, suggesting that it is at least partially coded in a visual reference frame. This observation was made by comparing the perceived location of a touch to a visual reference. Here, we ask whether the location of a touch is coded differently

Research paper thumbnail of The eVect of exposure to asynchronous audio, visual, and tactile stimulus combinations on the perception of simultaneity

Information about an event takes diVerent amounts of time to be processed depending on which sen-... more Information about an event takes diVerent amounts of time to be processed depending on which sen- sory system the event activates. However, despite the varia- tions in processing time for lights and sounds, the point of subjective simultaneity (PSS) for brieXy presented audio/ visual stimuli is usually close to true simultaneity. Here we conWrm that the simultaneity constancy mechanism that

Research paper thumbnail of Visuotactile apparent motion

Attention Perception & Psychophysics, 2008

This article compares the properties of apparent motion between a light and a touch with apparent... more This article compares the properties of apparent motion between a light and a touch with apparent motion between either two lights or two touches. Visual and tactile stimulators were attached to the tips of the two index fingers that were held apart at different distances. Subjects rated the quality of apparent motion between each stimulus combination for a range of

Research paper thumbnail of Eye position affects the perceived location of touch

Experimental Brain Research, 2009

Here, we demonstrate a systematic shift in the perceived location of a tactile stimulus on the ar... more Here, we demonstrate a systematic shift in the perceived location of a tactile stimulus on the arm toward where the eye is looking. Participants reported the perceived position of touches presented between the elbow and the wrist while maintaining eye positions at various eccentricities. The perceived location of the touch was shifted by between 1 and 5 cm (1.9°–9.5° visual angle)

Research paper thumbnail of Multimodal Ternus: Visual, tactile, and visuo – tactile grouping in apparent motion

Research paper thumbnail of The relative timing of active and passive touch

Brain Research, 2008

Tactile stimulation usually occurs as a combination of an active movement (reaching out to touch ... more Tactile stimulation usually occurs as a combination of an active movement (reaching out to touch a surface) and a sensation (actually feeling the surface against the skin). The brain has information about the active component (the motor command) before it occurs because of efference copy, while the passive component must be transduced before it can be processed. Since the active

Research paper thumbnail of The effect of exposure to asynchronous audio, visual, and tactile stimulus combinations on the perception of simultaneity

Experimental Brain Research, 2008

Information about an event takes different amounts of time to be processed depending on which sen... more Information about an event takes different amounts of time to be processed depending on which sensory system the event activates. However, despite the variations in processing time for lights and sounds, the point of subjective simultaneity (PSS) for briefly presented audio/visual stimuli is usually close to true simultaneity. Here we confirm that the simultaneity constancy mechanism that achieves this for

Research paper thumbnail of Simultaneity constancy: detecting events with touch and vision

Experimental Brain Research, 2005

What are the consequences of visual and tactile neural processing time differences when combining... more What are the consequences of visual and tactile neural processing time differences when combining multisensory information about an event on the body’s surface? Visual information about such events reaches the brain at a time that is independent of the location of the event. However, tactile information about such events takes different amounts of time to be processed depending on the

Research paper thumbnail of Fibromyalgia patients and controls are equally accurate in detecting tactile stimuli while observing another in pain: an experimental study

Attention Perception & Psychophysics

This study investigated the effects of observing pain in others upon vicarious somatosensory expe... more This study investigated the effects of observing pain in others upon vicarious somatosensory experiences and the detection of somatosensory stimuli in both fibromyalgia (FM) patients and controls. The putative modulatory role of dispositional empathy, hypervigilance to pain, and central sensitization was examined. FM patients (n = 39) and controls (n = 38) saw videos depicting pain-related (hands being pricked) and non-pain-related scenes, while occasionally experiencing vibrotactile stimuli themselves on the left, right, or both hands. Participants reported the location at which they felt a somatosensory stimulus. Tactile and visual scenes were presented in the same spatial location (congruent; e.g., left-left) or from opposite locations (incongruent; e.g., left-right). We calculated the proportion of correct responses, vicarious somatosensory experiences (i.e., trials on which an illusory somatosensory experience was reported while observing pain-related scenes), and neglect error...

Research paper thumbnail of Grape expectations: how the proportion of white grape in Champagne affects the ratings of experts and social drinkers in a blind tasting

Flavour, 2013

Champagnes (or sparkling wines that are made using the ‘méthode champenoise’) are composed of whi... more Champagnes (or sparkling wines that are made using the ‘méthode champenoise’) are composed of white and/or red wine grapes. Their relative proportions are thought to contribute to a sparkling wine’s distinctive flavour profile, but this has not yet been tested empirically. We, therefore, conducted a blind tasting experiment in which the participants had to report the perceived proportion of white grapes in a range of seven sparkling wines (including six Champagnes).

Research paper thumbnail of How our body influences our perception of the world

Frontiers in Psychology, 2015

Incorporating the fact that the senses are embodied is necessary for an organism to interpret sen... more Incorporating the fact that the senses are embodied is necessary for an organism to interpret sensory information. Before a unified perception of the world can be formed, sensory signals must be processed with reference to body representation. The various attributes of the body such as shape, proportion, posture, and movement can be both derived from the various sensory systems and can affect perception of the world (including the body itself). In this review we examine the relationships between sensory and motor information, body representations, and perceptions of the world and the body. We provide several examples of how the body affects perception (including but not limited to body perception). First we show that body orientation effects visual distance perception and object orientation. Also, visual-auditory crossmodal-correspondences depend on the orientation of the body: audio "high" frequencies correspond to a visual "up" defined by both gravity and body coordinates. Next, we show that perceived locations of touch is affected by the orientation of the head and eyes on the body, suggesting a visual component to coding body locations. Additionally, the reference-frame used for coding touch locations seems to depend on whether gaze is static or moved relative to the body during the tactile task. The perceived attributes of the body such as body size, affect tactile perception even at the level of detection thresholds and two-point discrimination. Next, long-range tactile masking provides clues to the posture of the body in a canonical body schema. Finally, ownership of seen body parts depends on the orientation and perspective of the body part in view. Together, all of these findings demonstrate how sensory and motor information, body representations, and perceptions (of the body and the world) are interdependent.

Research paper thumbnail of The taste of cutlery: how the taste of food is affected by the weight, size, shape, and colour of the cutlery used to eat it

Flavour, 2013

The taste of cutlery: how the taste of food is affected by the weight, size, shape, and colour of... more The taste of cutlery: how the taste of food is affected by the weight, size, shape, and colour of the cutlery used to eat it Abstract Background: Recent evidence has shown that changing the plateware can affect the perceived taste and flavour of food, but very little is known about visual and proprioceptive influences of cutlery on the response of consumers to the food sampled from it. In the present study, we report three experiments designed to investigate whether food tastes different when the visual and tactile properties of the plastic cutlery from which it is sampled are altered. We independently varied the weight, size, colour, and shape of cutlery. We assessed the impact of changing the sensory properties of the cutlery on participants' ratings of the sweetness, saltiness, perceived value, and overall liking of the food tasted from it.

Research paper thumbnail of The detection of tactile stimuli while observing another in pain in chronic pain patients and controls

Multisensory Research, 2013

Research paper thumbnail of Assessing the impact of the tableware and other contextual variables on multisensory flavour perception

Flavour, 2012

Currently little is known about how the non-edible items associated with eating and drinking (tab... more Currently little is known about how the non-edible items associated with eating and drinking (tableware items such as the plates, bowls, cutlery, glasses, bottles, condiment containers, etc.), or even environmental factors (such as the lighting and/or background music), affect people's perception of foodstuffs. Here, we review the latest evidence demonstrating the importance of these contextual variables on the consumer's behavioural and hedonic response to, and sensory perception of, a variety of food and drink items. These effects are explained by a combination of psychological factors (high level attributes, such as perceived quality, that may be mediating the effects under consideration), perceptual factors (such as the Ebbinghaus-Titchener size-contrast illusion and colour contrast in the case of the colour of the plateware affecting taste/flavour perception), and physiological-chemical factors (such as differences in the release of volatile organic compounds from differently-shaped wine glasses). Together, these factors help to explain the growing body of evidence demonstrating that both the tableware and the environment can have a profound effect on our perception of food and drink.

Research paper thumbnail of Abstracts from the 13th International Multisensory Research Forum, University of Oxford, June 19th–22nd 2012

Seeing and Perceiving, 2012

ABSTRACT

Research paper thumbnail of The Effect of Motor Response, Sensory Modality, and Intensity on Temporal Reproduction

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2014

ABSTRACT The ability to perceive a filled interval of time is affected by numerous non-temporal f... more ABSTRACT The ability to perceive a filled interval of time is affected by numerous non-temporal factors, such as the modality and intensity of the stimulus, and cognitive load. The present study explores the role of modality (auditory and visual), stimulus intensity (weak or strong), and motor response speed on the subjective duration of short (<1s) filled intervals. In order to determine if there is a common underlying cause for all of these effects, or if they independently affect duration reproduction, we conducted a temporal reproduction and a reaction time (RT) task to measure duration perception and motor response speed, respectively. For the reproduction task, in accordance with previous studies, the reproduced duration was affected both by stimulus modality and stimulus intensity; longer reproduction times were observed for visual as compared to auditory stimuli, and for low intensity as compared to high intensity stimuli. Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that stimulus duration, modality, and intensity as well as participants’ RTs were all significant independent predictors of the durations reproduced by the participants. That is, temporal reproduction is affected by response times which itself is affected by processing speed. While stimulus intensity and modality affect processing speed, they seem to have an additional effect on perception duration. These results support the view that the effect of modality on the reproduction task may not simply be attributable to modality-driven processing differences (i.e., slower visual stimulus processing), but instead to a faster auditory pacemaker.

Research paper thumbnail of Improved tactile acuity following perceptual learning generalises to untrained fingers

Seeing and Perceiving, 2012

ABSTRACT

Research paper thumbnail of A weighty matter: The effect of spoon size and weight on food perception

Seeing and Perceiving, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Effect of temporal adaptation on actions to integrated multisensory stimuli

Research paper thumbnail of Supplemental Information Multisensory Integration and Attention in Developmental Dyslexia

Research paper thumbnail of Touch used to guide action is partially coded in a visual reference frame

Experimental Brain Research, 2010

The perceived location of touch on the skin is affected by the position of the eyes in the head, ... more The perceived location of touch on the skin is affected by the position of the eyes in the head, suggesting that it is at least partially coded in a visual reference frame. This observation was made by comparing the perceived location of a touch to a visual reference. Here, we ask whether the location of a touch is coded differently

Research paper thumbnail of The eVect of exposure to asynchronous audio, visual, and tactile stimulus combinations on the perception of simultaneity

Information about an event takes diVerent amounts of time to be processed depending on which sen-... more Information about an event takes diVerent amounts of time to be processed depending on which sen- sory system the event activates. However, despite the varia- tions in processing time for lights and sounds, the point of subjective simultaneity (PSS) for brieXy presented audio/ visual stimuli is usually close to true simultaneity. Here we conWrm that the simultaneity constancy mechanism that

Research paper thumbnail of Visuotactile apparent motion

Attention Perception & Psychophysics, 2008

This article compares the properties of apparent motion between a light and a touch with apparent... more This article compares the properties of apparent motion between a light and a touch with apparent motion between either two lights or two touches. Visual and tactile stimulators were attached to the tips of the two index fingers that were held apart at different distances. Subjects rated the quality of apparent motion between each stimulus combination for a range of

Research paper thumbnail of Eye position affects the perceived location of touch

Experimental Brain Research, 2009

Here, we demonstrate a systematic shift in the perceived location of a tactile stimulus on the ar... more Here, we demonstrate a systematic shift in the perceived location of a tactile stimulus on the arm toward where the eye is looking. Participants reported the perceived position of touches presented between the elbow and the wrist while maintaining eye positions at various eccentricities. The perceived location of the touch was shifted by between 1 and 5 cm (1.9°–9.5° visual angle)

Research paper thumbnail of Multimodal Ternus: Visual, tactile, and visuo – tactile grouping in apparent motion

Research paper thumbnail of The relative timing of active and passive touch

Brain Research, 2008

Tactile stimulation usually occurs as a combination of an active movement (reaching out to touch ... more Tactile stimulation usually occurs as a combination of an active movement (reaching out to touch a surface) and a sensation (actually feeling the surface against the skin). The brain has information about the active component (the motor command) before it occurs because of efference copy, while the passive component must be transduced before it can be processed. Since the active

Research paper thumbnail of The effect of exposure to asynchronous audio, visual, and tactile stimulus combinations on the perception of simultaneity

Experimental Brain Research, 2008

Information about an event takes different amounts of time to be processed depending on which sen... more Information about an event takes different amounts of time to be processed depending on which sensory system the event activates. However, despite the variations in processing time for lights and sounds, the point of subjective simultaneity (PSS) for briefly presented audio/visual stimuli is usually close to true simultaneity. Here we confirm that the simultaneity constancy mechanism that achieves this for

Research paper thumbnail of Simultaneity constancy: detecting events with touch and vision

Experimental Brain Research, 2005

What are the consequences of visual and tactile neural processing time differences when combining... more What are the consequences of visual and tactile neural processing time differences when combining multisensory information about an event on the body’s surface? Visual information about such events reaches the brain at a time that is independent of the location of the event. However, tactile information about such events takes different amounts of time to be processed depending on the

Research paper thumbnail of Fibromyalgia patients and controls are equally accurate in detecting tactile stimuli while observing another in pain: an experimental study

Attention Perception & Psychophysics

This study investigated the effects of observing pain in others upon vicarious somatosensory expe... more This study investigated the effects of observing pain in others upon vicarious somatosensory experiences and the detection of somatosensory stimuli in both fibromyalgia (FM) patients and controls. The putative modulatory role of dispositional empathy, hypervigilance to pain, and central sensitization was examined. FM patients (n = 39) and controls (n = 38) saw videos depicting pain-related (hands being pricked) and non-pain-related scenes, while occasionally experiencing vibrotactile stimuli themselves on the left, right, or both hands. Participants reported the location at which they felt a somatosensory stimulus. Tactile and visual scenes were presented in the same spatial location (congruent; e.g., left-left) or from opposite locations (incongruent; e.g., left-right). We calculated the proportion of correct responses, vicarious somatosensory experiences (i.e., trials on which an illusory somatosensory experience was reported while observing pain-related scenes), and neglect error...

Research paper thumbnail of Grape expectations: how the proportion of white grape in Champagne affects the ratings of experts and social drinkers in a blind tasting

Flavour, 2013

Champagnes (or sparkling wines that are made using the ‘méthode champenoise’) are composed of whi... more Champagnes (or sparkling wines that are made using the ‘méthode champenoise’) are composed of white and/or red wine grapes. Their relative proportions are thought to contribute to a sparkling wine’s distinctive flavour profile, but this has not yet been tested empirically. We, therefore, conducted a blind tasting experiment in which the participants had to report the perceived proportion of white grapes in a range of seven sparkling wines (including six Champagnes).

Research paper thumbnail of How our body influences our perception of the world

Frontiers in Psychology, 2015

Incorporating the fact that the senses are embodied is necessary for an organism to interpret sen... more Incorporating the fact that the senses are embodied is necessary for an organism to interpret sensory information. Before a unified perception of the world can be formed, sensory signals must be processed with reference to body representation. The various attributes of the body such as shape, proportion, posture, and movement can be both derived from the various sensory systems and can affect perception of the world (including the body itself). In this review we examine the relationships between sensory and motor information, body representations, and perceptions of the world and the body. We provide several examples of how the body affects perception (including but not limited to body perception). First we show that body orientation effects visual distance perception and object orientation. Also, visual-auditory crossmodal-correspondences depend on the orientation of the body: audio "high" frequencies correspond to a visual "up" defined by both gravity and body coordinates. Next, we show that perceived locations of touch is affected by the orientation of the head and eyes on the body, suggesting a visual component to coding body locations. Additionally, the reference-frame used for coding touch locations seems to depend on whether gaze is static or moved relative to the body during the tactile task. The perceived attributes of the body such as body size, affect tactile perception even at the level of detection thresholds and two-point discrimination. Next, long-range tactile masking provides clues to the posture of the body in a canonical body schema. Finally, ownership of seen body parts depends on the orientation and perspective of the body part in view. Together, all of these findings demonstrate how sensory and motor information, body representations, and perceptions (of the body and the world) are interdependent.

Research paper thumbnail of The taste of cutlery: how the taste of food is affected by the weight, size, shape, and colour of the cutlery used to eat it

Flavour, 2013

The taste of cutlery: how the taste of food is affected by the weight, size, shape, and colour of... more The taste of cutlery: how the taste of food is affected by the weight, size, shape, and colour of the cutlery used to eat it Abstract Background: Recent evidence has shown that changing the plateware can affect the perceived taste and flavour of food, but very little is known about visual and proprioceptive influences of cutlery on the response of consumers to the food sampled from it. In the present study, we report three experiments designed to investigate whether food tastes different when the visual and tactile properties of the plastic cutlery from which it is sampled are altered. We independently varied the weight, size, colour, and shape of cutlery. We assessed the impact of changing the sensory properties of the cutlery on participants' ratings of the sweetness, saltiness, perceived value, and overall liking of the food tasted from it.

Research paper thumbnail of The detection of tactile stimuli while observing another in pain in chronic pain patients and controls

Multisensory Research, 2013

Research paper thumbnail of Assessing the impact of the tableware and other contextual variables on multisensory flavour perception

Flavour, 2012

Currently little is known about how the non-edible items associated with eating and drinking (tab... more Currently little is known about how the non-edible items associated with eating and drinking (tableware items such as the plates, bowls, cutlery, glasses, bottles, condiment containers, etc.), or even environmental factors (such as the lighting and/or background music), affect people's perception of foodstuffs. Here, we review the latest evidence demonstrating the importance of these contextual variables on the consumer's behavioural and hedonic response to, and sensory perception of, a variety of food and drink items. These effects are explained by a combination of psychological factors (high level attributes, such as perceived quality, that may be mediating the effects under consideration), perceptual factors (such as the Ebbinghaus-Titchener size-contrast illusion and colour contrast in the case of the colour of the plateware affecting taste/flavour perception), and physiological-chemical factors (such as differences in the release of volatile organic compounds from differently-shaped wine glasses). Together, these factors help to explain the growing body of evidence demonstrating that both the tableware and the environment can have a profound effect on our perception of food and drink.

Research paper thumbnail of Abstracts from the 13th International Multisensory Research Forum, University of Oxford, June 19th–22nd 2012

Seeing and Perceiving, 2012

ABSTRACT

Research paper thumbnail of The Effect of Motor Response, Sensory Modality, and Intensity on Temporal Reproduction

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2014

ABSTRACT The ability to perceive a filled interval of time is affected by numerous non-temporal f... more ABSTRACT The ability to perceive a filled interval of time is affected by numerous non-temporal factors, such as the modality and intensity of the stimulus, and cognitive load. The present study explores the role of modality (auditory and visual), stimulus intensity (weak or strong), and motor response speed on the subjective duration of short (<1s) filled intervals. In order to determine if there is a common underlying cause for all of these effects, or if they independently affect duration reproduction, we conducted a temporal reproduction and a reaction time (RT) task to measure duration perception and motor response speed, respectively. For the reproduction task, in accordance with previous studies, the reproduced duration was affected both by stimulus modality and stimulus intensity; longer reproduction times were observed for visual as compared to auditory stimuli, and for low intensity as compared to high intensity stimuli. Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that stimulus duration, modality, and intensity as well as participants’ RTs were all significant independent predictors of the durations reproduced by the participants. That is, temporal reproduction is affected by response times which itself is affected by processing speed. While stimulus intensity and modality affect processing speed, they seem to have an additional effect on perception duration. These results support the view that the effect of modality on the reproduction task may not simply be attributable to modality-driven processing differences (i.e., slower visual stimulus processing), but instead to a faster auditory pacemaker.

Research paper thumbnail of Improved tactile acuity following perceptual learning generalises to untrained fingers

Seeing and Perceiving, 2012

ABSTRACT

Research paper thumbnail of A weighty matter: The effect of spoon size and weight on food perception

Seeing and Perceiving, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Effect of temporal adaptation on actions to integrated multisensory stimuli

Research paper thumbnail of Supplemental Information Multisensory Integration and Attention in Developmental Dyslexia