Psychology Commons^™

Reflections On… Phase Shifting Under Different Visual Conditions, Gavin Buckingham, David Carey, Arash Sahraie

Gavin Buckingham

When two limbs are moved out of time (i.e. opposing muscle activation at each limb) in rhythmic oscillatory movements, there is a tendency at high frequencies for the movements to synchronise in the temporal domain, resulting in bilateral homologous muscle activation known as a ‘phase shift’ (Kelso, 1984). In an effort to determine the degree with which perception influences this phase shifting behaviour (Mechsner et al., 2001), a mirror can be placed between the hands of participants, parallel to their mid-saggital plane such that the reflected hand appeared in the place of the occluded hand. This paradigm can be used …