Phantom limb behaviour and gaze during obstacle avoidance: obstacle shunning and tolerance after upper-limb amputation
Abstract
Phantom limb sensations persist in most amputees and offer a window into how the body is represented without sensory input from the missing limb. In this state, vision may help resolve conflicts between the perceived body and the physical world. In obstacle tolerance (OBT), the phantom remains present despite overlapping with physical matter; in obstacle shunning (OBS), it retracts or disappears. Whether these experiences extend beyond subjective perception to visual attention during action remains unclear. We tested whether OBS and OBT are associated with distinct gaze and task-performance patterns during obstacle avoidance. Fifteen individuals with transradial amputation (7 OBS, 8 OBT) and 29 able-bodied controls physically executed or imagined a limb repositioning movement while avoiding an obstacle. We recorded gaze using mobile eye-tracking and quantified obstacle-directed dwell time using automated obstacle segmentation and fixation detection. We analysed trial duration and attention shifts between the obstacle and the limb or environment. Bayesian mixed-effects models showed that participants with OBT spent less time looking at the obstacle when using the affected rather than the intact limb during motor execution. They were also more likely to make three or fewer attention shifts with the affected-limb, suggesting reduced obstacle monitoring when phantom–object overlap is tolerated. Participants with OBS took longer than controls during both motor execution and motor imagery. These findings suggest that OBS and OBT are associated with distinct action-related visuospatial strategies. Phantom–object relations appear to extend beyond subjective experience to the visual and temporal organisation of behaviour around physical objects.
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BibTeX
@misc{hernandez2026phantom,
title = {{Phantom limb behaviour and gaze during obstacle avoidance: obstacle shunning and tolerance after upper-limb amputation}},
author = {David Crevillén Hernández and Manfredo Atzori and Steffi Weidt and Emily S. Cross and Gianluca Saetta},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/kbnce_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/kbnce_v1/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Phantom limb behaviour and gaze during obstacle avoidance: obstacle shunning and tolerance after upper-limb amputation
AU - David Crevillén Hernández
AU - Manfredo Atzori
AU - Steffi Weidt
AU - Emily S. Cross
AU - Gianluca Saetta
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/20
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/kbnce_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/kbnce_v1/
AB - Phantom limb sensations persist in most amputees and offer a window into how the body is represented without sensory input from the missing limb. In this state, vision may help resolve conflicts between the perceived body and the physical world. In obstacle tolerance (OBT), the phantom remains present despite overlapping with physical matter; in obstacle shunning (OBS), it retracts or disappears. Whether these experiences extend beyond subjective perception to visual attention during action remains unclear. We tested whether OBS and OBT are associated with distinct gaze and task-performance patterns during obstacle avoidance. Fifteen individuals with transradial amputation (7 OBS, 8 OBT) and 29 able-bodied controls physically executed or imagined a limb repositioning movement while avoiding an obstacle. We recorded gaze using mobile eye-tracking and quantified obstacle-directed dwell time using automated obstacle segmentation and fixation detection. We analysed trial duration and attention shifts between the obstacle and the limb or environment. Bayesian mixed-effects models showed that participants with OBT spent less time looking at the obstacle when using the affected rather than the intact limb during motor execution. They were also more likely to make three or fewer attention shifts with the affected-limb, suggesting reduced obstacle monitoring when phantom–object overlap is tolerated. Participants with OBS took longer than controls during both motor execution and motor imagery. These findings suggest that OBS and OBT are associated with distinct action-related visuospatial strategies. Phantom–object relations appear to extend beyond subjective experience to the visual and temporal organisation of behaviour around physical objects.
ER -