Hartcher-O'Brien Jess, Auvray Malika
Multisens Res. 2014;27(5-6):421-41. doi: 10.1163/22134808-00002456.
When we interact with objects in our environment, as a general rule we are not aware of the proximal stimulation they provide, but we directly experience the external object. This process of assigning an external cause is known as distal attribution. It is extremely difficult to measure how distal attribution emerges because it arises so early in life and appears to be automatic. Sensory substitution systems give us the possibility to measure the process as it occurs online. With these devices, objects in our environment produce novel proximal stimulation patterns and individuals have to establish the link between the proximal stimulation and the distal object. This review disentangles the contributing factors that allow the nervous system to assign a distal cause, thereby creating the experience of an external world. In particular, it highlights the role of the assumption of a stable world, the role of movement, and finally that of calibration. From the existing sensory substitution literature it appears that distal attribution breaks down when one of these principles is violated and as such the review provides an important piece to the puzzle of distal attribution.
当我们与周围环境中的物体互动时，一般来说，我们并未意识到它们所提供的近端刺激，而是直接体验外部物体。这种将外部原因进行归因的过程被称为远端归因。测量远端归因是如何出现的极其困难，因为它在生命早期就已出现，而且似乎是自动发生的。感觉替代系统使我们有可能在远端归因在线发生时对其过程进行测量。借助这些设备，我们周围环境中的物体会产生新颖的近端刺激模式，而个体必须在近端刺激与远端物体之间建立联系。这篇综述梳理了促使神经系统进行远端归因从而产生外部世界体验的各种因素。特别值得一提的是，它强调了稳定世界假设的作用、运动的作用以及校准的作用。从现有的感觉替代文献来看，当这些原则中的任何一条被违反时，远端归因似乎就会失效，因此这篇综述为远端归因之谜提供了重要的一块拼图。
