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Résumé :
The body schema is the representation for the service of sensorimotor coordination of the position of body parts in space and relative to that space (Paillard, 1999). We use here the paradigm of the Rubber Hand Illusion (Botvinick and Cohen, 1998) to manipulate in four experiments the effective size and structure of the body-schema in various ways, to investigate its flexibility and the effects its modification may have on action in peripersonal space. In our first experiment, we induce a change to the effective size representation of the hand that impacts upon motor behaviour. In a second experiment we attempted to transiently alter the represented segmental structure of the arm. We used miniature feet in experiments three and four to manipulate the reprensented size of participants' whole bodies. In the fourth study, we looked to see the affect such a diminution might have on the perceived size of external space. From these studies, we then draw some conclusions about the likely mechanisme behind the body-schema's ability to transliently reconfigure and the relationship it holds to action and to peripersonal space.
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