Eye position tunes the contribution of allocentric and egocentric information to target localization in human goal-directed arm movements

Abstract

Subjects were required to point to the distant vertex of the closed and the open configurations of the Muller-Lyer illusion using either their right hand (experiment 1) or their left hand (experiment 2). In both experiments the Muller-Lyer figures were horizontally presented either in the left or in the right hemispace and movements were executed using either foveal or peripheral vision of the target. According to the illusion effect, subjects undershot and overshot the vertex location of the closed and the open configuration, respectively. The illusion effect decreased when the target was fixated and when the stimulus was positioned in the right hemispace. These results confirm the hypothesis that both egocentric and allocentric information are combined in order to encode target position in space. When movements are directed to foveal targets, decreasing effects of allocentric cues, as shown by decreasing the illusion effect, could be due to enhanced efficiency of the egocentric system. That is, information on eye position when target is fixated can be used to precisely establish its spatial relations with the body. In addition, a more accurate analysis of allocentric information is hypothesized when the target is positioned in the left hemispace. In other words, our data confirm the notion that the right cerebral hemisphere is involved in space representation.