Short-term blindfolded cane use can support explicit action-based control over a tool without necessarily producing a strong conscious feeling that the tool belongs to the body, revealing a dissociation between explicit ownership, agency, and behavioral indices of tool-related sensorimotor updating.
Key Findings
Results
Agency ratings were consistently stronger than ownership ratings across all age groups and conditions during blindfolded cane use.
Forty-three healthy right-handed adults participated in the study
Participants completed two blindfolded cane-use conditions: object search training and navigation training
The agency-over-ownership difference was observed consistently across both conditions and both age groups
This pattern suggests that action-based control can emerge independently of a sense of bodily ownership of the tool
Results
Behavioral recalibration measures, especially Reaching Distance Estimation Error, were more consistently associated with agency than with ownership.
Regression analyses were used to assess associations between behavioral recalibration measures and subjective ratings
Reaching Distance Estimation Error showed the strongest and most consistent association with agency
Tactile Distance Judgment was also administered as a recalibration measure before and after cane use
The clearest joint-model effect was observed specifically for agency during navigation training
Results
Age Group contributed to agency ratings during navigation training, though age-dependent interaction effects did not reach statistical significance.
Both younger and older adults were included in the sample of 43 healthy right-handed adults
Age Group was identified as a contributing factor specifically in the navigation training condition
Age-dependent interaction effects (e.g., Age Group × recalibration measure interactions) did not reach statistical significance
This suggests age-related differences in tool embodiment during navigation may exist but were not definitively confirmed in this sample
Results
The study found a dissociation between explicit ownership, agency, and behavioral indices of tool-related sensorimotor updating under blindfolded tool use.
Explicit ownership ratings did not consistently correlate with behavioral recalibration measures in the same way agency did
The dissociation was observed under conditions of short-term visual deprivation (blindfolded use)
Tactile Distance Judgment and Reaching Distance Estimation tasks were administered both before and after cane use to capture sensorimotor recalibration
The findings challenge the assumption that vision is necessary to support tool embodiment processes across the adult lifespan
Results
Short-term blindfolded cane use elicited subjective agency even without strong conscious feelings of tool ownership across both younger and older adults.
Participants rated ownership and agency after each of the two cane-use conditions
The two conditions differed in nature: object search training versus navigation training
Both conditions were conducted under visual deprivation (blindfolded)
Results suggest the tool became integrated into action-related body representations at the level of agency even during brief exposure
What This Means
This research suggests that when people use a cane while blindfolded — even briefly — they can develop a sense of control over the cane as part of their actions (called 'agency') without necessarily feeling that the cane has become part of their body (called 'ownership'). The study tested 43 adults of different ages in two activities: searching for objects and navigating, both done blindfolded with a cane. After each activity, participants rated how much they felt the cane was part of their body and how much they felt in control of it. They also completed tasks measuring how their perception of distances changed after cane use.
The key finding is that the sense of agency — feeling in control of the tool — was consistently stronger than the sense of ownership across all participants and conditions, and it was more closely linked to measurable changes in how people perceived distances with their bodies. Older adults showed some differences from younger adults in agency during navigation, but these differences were not statistically conclusive. This research suggests that vision is not strictly necessary for developing a functional sense of control over a tool, since participants were blindfolded throughout.
These findings matter because they help clarify that tool use engages at least two distinct psychological processes — ownership and agency — that can come apart under real-world-like conditions such as blindfolded navigation. This has potential relevance for understanding how people with visual impairments adapt to assistive tools like canes, and for designing rehabilitation or training programs that may not require vision to foster effective tool integration across different ages.
Jahanian Najafabadi A, Hommel B. (2026). Age-related differences in embodying a tool under visual deprivation.. Experimental brain research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-026-07382-y