The sensory origins of human position sense

Tsay, Anthony; Giummarra, Melita J.; Allen, Trevor James; Proske, Uwe

doi:10.1113/jp271498

Cited by 38 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 44 publications

(76 reference statements)

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“…Tsay et al . () demonstrated that conditioning of muscle spindle signals induces predictable biases in the localization of elbow joint position during limb matching but not during pointing. Although we propose that visual cues of static postural orientation are insufficient to update the balance system's representation of head‐on‐feet orientation, it is unclear if vision can play a role in transforming the direction of the vestibular‐evoked balance response under different scenarios.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The internal representation of head orientation differs for conscious perception and balance control

Dalton

Rasman

Inglis

et al. 2017

The Journal of Physiology

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Vestibular signals used for balance control must be integrated with other sensorimotor cues to allow transformation of descending signals according to an internal representation of body configuration. We explored two alternative models of sensorimotor integration that propose (1) a single internal representation of head-on-feet orientation is responsible for perceived postural orientation and standing balance or (2) conscious perception and balance control are driven by separate internal representations. During three experiments, participants stood quietly while passively or actively maintaining a prolonged head-turned posture (>10 min). Throughout the trials, participants intermittently reported their perceived head angular position, and subsequently electrical vestibular stimuli were delivered to elicit whole-body balance responses. Visual recalibration of head-on-feet posture was used to determine whether static visual cues are used to update the internal representation of body configuration for perceived orientation and standing balance. All three experiments involved situations in which the vestibular-evoked balance response was not orthogonal to perceived head-on-feet orientation, regardless of the visual information provided. For prolonged head-turned postures, balance responses consistent with actual head-on-feet posture occurred only during the active condition. Our results indicate that conscious perception of head-on-feet posture and vestibular control of balance do not rely on the same internal representation, but instead treat sensorimotor cues in parallel and may arrive at different conclusions regarding head-on-feet posture. The balance system appears to bypass static visual cues of postural orientation and mainly use other sensorimotor signals of head-on-feet position to transform vestibular signals of head motion, a mechanism appropriate for most daily activities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The internal representation of head orientation differs for conscious perception and balance control

Dalton

Rasman

Inglis

et al. 2017

The Journal of Physiology

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“…Given its importance, proprioception has always received significant attention from the field of human neurophysiology (Proske & Gandevia, 2009;Tsay, Giummarra, Allen, & Proske, 2016) and, in recent years, the topic has received additional impetus owing to advances in robotic technologies that have allowed experts to develop reliable, accurate, and objective tests (Dukelow et al, 2010;Marini, Ferrantino, & Zenzeri, 2018;Marini, Squeri, Morasso, Konczak, & Masia, 2016;Rinderknecht, Popp, Lambercy, & Gassert, 2016).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural correlates of proprioceptive upper limb position matching

Marini

Zenzeri

Pippo

et al. 2019

Human Brain Mapping

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Proprioceptive information allows humans to perform smooth coordinated movements by constantly updating one's mind with knowledge of the position of one's limbs in space. How this information is combined with other sensory modalities and centrally processed to form conscious perceptions of limb position remains relatively unknown. What has proven even more elusive is pinpointing the contribution of proprioception in cortical activity related to motion. This study addresses these gaps by examining electrocortical dynamics while participants performed an upper limb position matching task in two conditions, namely with proprioceptive feedback or with both visual and proprioceptive feedback. Specifically, we evaluated the reduction of the electroencephalographic power (desynchronization) in the μ frequency band (8–12 Hz), which is known to characterize the neural activation associated with motor control and behavior. We observed a stronger desynchronization in the left motor and somatosensory areas, contralateral to the moving limb while, parietal and occipital regions, identifying association and visual areas, respectively, exhibited a similar activation level in the two hemispheres. Pertaining to the influence of the two experimental conditions it affected only movement's offset, and precisely we found that when matching movements are performed relying only on proprioceptive information, a lower cortical activity is entailed. This effect was strongest in the visual and association areas, while there was a minor effect in the hand motor and somatosensory areas.

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“…In particular, muscle spindle cues are crucial for perceiving inter‐limb orientation, but are such inputs relied upon to determine a limb's position in external space? In this issue of The Journal of Physiology , Tsay and colleagues () address this question by biasing the muscle spindle signals during an elbow joint localization task. The authors demonstrate that the use of muscle spindle cues for limb localization is context dependent.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%