When we represent someone's view of a scene as egocentrically structured, where do we represent the origin of the reference frame? By analysing responses in a spatial perspective-taking task as a function of spatial location with respect to both head and torso, we isolated the respective contribution of each part to spatial judgments. Both the head and the torso contributed to judgements, thoug...

Tasks involving flexed torso postures have a high incidence of low back injuries. Changes in the ability to sense and adequately control low back motion may play a role in these injuries. Previous studies examining position sense errors of the lumbar spine with torso flexion found significant increases in error with flexion. However, there has been little research on the effect of lumbar angle....

The human body plays a central role in nonverbal communication, conveying attitudes, personality, and values during social interactions. Three experiments in a large, open classroom setting investigated whether the visibility of torso-located cues affects nonverbal communication of similarity. In Expts. 1 and 2, half the participants wore a black plastic bag over their torso. Participants inter...

To be operated in unknown or complex environments, modern robots have to fulfill various challenging criteria. Among them, one finds requirements such as a high level of robustness withstand impacts and the capabilities physically interact safe manner. One way achieve that is integrate variable-stiffness actuators into systems, enabling compliant behavior through elastic components providing ad...