Location of the egocenter in kinesthetic space.

The location of the egocenter in kinesthetic space was investigated in 4 experiments. Participants, with their eyes closed, adjusted a comparison stimulus after or while touching a standard in a transverse plane at the belly or shoulder level so that they perceived the line joining the comparison and the fixed standard as pointing directly at themselves. The mean location of the intersections of the obtained lines was taken as the location of the egocenter. The main results showed that the location of the kinesthetic egocenter depended on the hand or hands used for touching, the timing of touching, and the distance of the standard from the participant. Implications of these results were discussed in relation to models of the kinesthetic egocenter.