Body Locus and Form Perception

Abstract

Forms were drawn on the palms, forearms, or biceps of 42 subjects, with vision excluded. Subjects were then required to make a visual match to the drawn forms. It was expected that the accuracy of form recognition would be a direct function of the sensitivity of the receptor surface. Thus the palm was expected to yield more accurate form recognition than the forearm or bicep. Form recognition was significantly worse on the forearm than on other skin locations. The adequacy of a skin surface as an information transducer does not appear to be a simple function of cutaneous sensitivity since there was no significant difference in the accuracy of form recognition between the palm and bicep.