Effect of conflict between the body parts on perceptual adaptation

Two groups of subjects adapted to prismatic displacement. One adapted in a visual target condition, in which they pointed to an external visual target with their right index fingers. The other adapted in a body target condition, in which they pointed to their left index fingers with their right index fingers. The visual target group showed more adaptation of the right hand and less adaptation of the left hand than did the body target group. These results are consistent with an assimilation tendency within the proprioceptive modality, namely that body parts that are in contact tend to be perceived as occupying the same spatial position.