@article {197,
	title = {Tool morphology constrains the effects of tool use on body representations.},
	journal = {J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform},
	volume = {40},
	year = {2014},
	month = {2014 Dec},
	pages = {2143-53},
	abstract = {<p>What factors constrain whether tool use modulates the user{\textquoteright}s body representations? To date, studies on representational plasticity following tool use have primarily focused on the act of using the tool. Here, we investigated whether the tool{\textquoteright}s morphology also serves to constrain plasticity. In 2 experiments, we varied whether the tool was morphologically similar to a target body part (Experiment 1, hand; Experiment 2, arm). Participants judged the tactile distance between pairs of points applied to their tool-using target body surface and forehead (control surface) before and after tool use. We applied touch in 2 orientations, allowing us to quantify how tool use modulates the representation{\textquoteright}s shape. Significant representational plasticity in hand shape (increase in width, decrease in length) was found when the tool was morphologically similar to a hand (Experiment 1A), but not when the tool was arm-shaped (Experiment 1B). Conversely, significant representational plasticity was found on the arm when the tool was arm-shaped (Experiment 2B), but not when hand-shaped (Experiment 2A). Taken together, our results indicate that morphological similarity between the tool and the effector constrains tool-induced representational plasticity. The embodiment of tools may thus depend on a match-to-template process between tool morphology and representation of the body.</p>
},
	keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Body Image, Discrimination (Psychology), Distance Perception, Female, Form Perception, Humans, Judgment, Male, Size Perception, Tool Use Behavior, Touch Perception, Young Adult},
	issn = {1939-1277},
	doi = {10.1037/a0037777},
	author = {Miller, Luke E and Longo, Matthew R and Saygin, Ayse P}
}
@article {201,
	title = {Evidence that primary visual cortex is required for image, orientation, and motion discrimination by rats.},
	journal = {PLoS One},
	volume = {8},
	year = {2013},
	month = {2013},
	pages = {e56543},
	abstract = {<p>The pigmented Long-Evans rat has proven to be an excellent subject for studying visually guided behavior including quantitative visual psychophysics. This observation, together with its experimental accessibility and its close homology to the mouse, has made it an attractive model system in which to dissect the thalamic and cortical circuits underlying visual perception. Given that visually guided behavior in the absence of primary visual cortex has been described in the literature, however, it is an empirical question whether specific visual behaviors will depend on primary visual cortex in the rat. Here we tested the effects of cortical lesions on performance of two-alternative forced-choice visual discriminations by Long-Evans rats. We present data from one highly informative subject that learned several visual tasks and then received a bilateral lesion ablating \&gt;90\% of primary visual cortex. After the lesion, this subject had a profound and persistent deficit in complex image discrimination, orientation discrimination, and full-field optic flow motion discrimination, compared with both pre-lesion performance and sham-lesion controls. Performance was intact, however, on another visual two-alternative forced-choice task that required approaching a salient visual target. A second highly informative subject learned several visual tasks prior to receiving a lesion ablating \&gt;90\% of medial extrastriate cortex. This subject showed no impairment on any of the four task categories. Taken together, our data provide evidence that these image, orientation, and motion discrimination tasks require primary visual cortex in the Long-Evans rat, whereas approaching a salient visual target does not.</p>
},
	keywords = {Animals, Discrimination (Psychology), Discrimination Learning, Male, Motion, Orientation, Photic Stimulation, Psychomotor Performance, Rats, Visual Cortex},
	issn = {1932-6203},
	doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0056543},
	author = {Petruno, Sarah K and Clark, Robert E and Reinagel, Pamela}
}
