Stability of perception of the hand's aperture in a grasp

How we judge the location of our body parts can be affected by a range of factors that change how our brain interprets proprioceptive signals. We examined the effect of several such factors on how we perceive an object's width and the spacing between our thumb and fingers when grasping. Grasp‐related perceptions were slightly wider when using all digits, in line with our tendency to grasp larger objects with the entire hand. Surprisingly, these perceptions were not affected by the frames of reference for judgements (object width versus grasp aperture), whether the object was grasped actively or passively, or the strength of the grasp. These results show that the brain maintains a largely stable representation of the hand when grasping stationary objects. This stability may underpin our dexterity when grasping a vast array of objects.

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