Abstract
This study investigates size differences for own hand images and the actual hand, and the relation between size accuracy for imagined hand and own body information. The experimental task was to imagine either the participant’s hand or some non-body objects and adjust the width between two horizontal lines presented on a display to fit to the imagined object. Participants performed the task while changing hand position, posture and imaged hand region (Experiment 1) or at six different distances from the display (35–60 cm, Experiment 2). The findings were that estimates of hand-width were relatively accurately but hand-length tended to be overestimated, regardless of hand position or posture. Moreover, hand-size esti-mations were more affected than estimations of non-body objects by display distance, such that hand sizes were significantly underestimated at distances beyond the arm length of each participant. The results in-dicate that one's concept of own body size is not modulated by current information from the body but is modulated by long-term experience of one's own body.
