Amending Ongoing Upper-Limb Reaches: Visual  and Proprioceptive Contributions?

Source:Volume 31, Issue 5, pp 455 - 480In order to maximize the precise completion of voluntary actions, humans can theoretically utilize both visual and proprioceptive information to plan and amend ongoing limb trajectories. Although vision has been thought to be a more dominant sensory modality, research has shown that sensory feedback may be processed as a function of its relevance and reliability. As well, theoretical models of voluntary action have suggested that both vision and proprioception can be used to prepare online trajectory amendments. However, empirical evidence regarding the use of proprioception for online control has come from indirect manipulations from the sensory feedback (i.e., without directly perturbing the afferent information; e.g., visual –proprioceptive mismatch). In order to directly assess the relative contributions of visual and proprioceptive feedback to the online control of voluntary actions, direct perturbations to both vision (i.e., liquid crystal goggles) and proprioception (i.e., tendon vibration) were implemented in two experiments. The first experiment employed the manipulations while participants simply performed a rapid goal-directed movement (30 cm amplitude). Results from this first experiment yielded no significant evidence that proprioceptive feedback contributed to online control processes. The second expe riment employed an imperceptible target jump to elicit online trajectory amendments. Without or with tendon vibration, par...

Source: Multisensory research - January 19, 2018 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Rachel Goodman, Valentin A. Crainic, Stephen R. Bested, Darrin  O. Wijeyaratnam, John de Grosbois and Luc Tremblay Source Type: research