A touch on the hand makes the eyes snap to where that hand should be even if the hand has actually moved somewhere else.
Spontaneous eye movements triggered by a touch on the skin ignore the actual physical location of your limbs in real space. The human brain maintains a rigid, hard-wired map of the body that assumes every limb is in a default position. Most people assume the brain calculates the exact coordinates of a touch by combining skin sensation with muscle position data. This data proves the brain skips that math and relies on a pre-set template instead. Your visual system is fundamentally disconnected from your physical reality for a split second after a stimulus. Our internal sense of self is built on a static architectural plan rather than a live video feed.
Spontaneous Eye Movements following Touch Reflect Canonical Body Postures
PsyArXiv · ujxnp_v2
Humans constantly move when interacting with their environment. This constant movement challenges the processing of tactile stimuli because localizing tactile input on the body requires considering postural information. According to a well-established view, stimuli are localized on the body based on information about the current body posture, via a process called tactile remapping. Recently, an alternative view has emerged, arguing that stimuli are rather localized based on prior information abo