Triggering prepared actions by sudden sounds: reassessing the evidence for a single mechanism

Marinovic, Welber; Tresilian, James R.

doi:10.1111/apha.12627

Cited by 56 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 185 publications

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“…Latency variability was highest for the lowest intensity, consistent with the subjects' difficulty in discriminating these stimuli [82]. In trials at the highest intensity, response latencies were shorter and muscle burst activity was larger when startle reflex signs were present, as previously shown with acoustic stimuli [52, 58, 83, 84]. Latencies, however, were not as short as described with acoustic stimulation [75, 85–87], which may be due to differences not only in afferent conduction times but also in stimulus characteristics as described above.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

“…Concomitant responses in OOc and/or SCM, indicating a generalized startle reaction, may serve to differentiate early released motor responses due to stimulus intensity alone from those due to additional startle effects. Furthermore, a careful use or avoidance of low-intensity prepulses, which are known to suppress startle responses while preserving the StartReact effect [51], may help to further characterize the observed responses [52]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evidence for Startle Effects due to Externally Induced Lower Limb Movements: Implications in Neurorehabilitation

Castellote

Kofler²,

Mayr³

et al. 2017

BioMed Research International

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Passive limb displacement is routinely used to assess muscle tone. If we attempt to quantify muscle stiffness using mechanical devices, it is important to know whether kinematic stimuli are able to trigger startle reactions. Whether kinematic stimuli are able to elicit a startle reflex and to accelerate prepared voluntary movements (StartReact effect) has not been studied extensively to date. Eleven healthy subjects were suspended in an exoskeleton and were exposed to passive left knee flexion (KF) at three intensities, occasionally replaced by fast right KF. Upon perceiving the movement subjects were asked to perform right wrist extension (WE), assessed by extensor carpi radialis (ECR) electromyographic activity. ECR latencies were shortest in fast trials. Startle responses were present in most fast trials, yet being significantly accelerated and larger with right versus left KF, since the former occurred less frequently and thus less expectedly. Startle responses were associated with earlier and larger ECR responses (StartReact effect), with the largest effect again upon right KF. The results provide evidence that kinematic stimuli are able to elicit both startle reflexes and a StartReact effect, which depend on stimulus intensity and anticipation, as well as on the subjects' preparedness to respond.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for Startle Effects due to Externally Induced Lower Limb Movements: Implications in Neurorehabilitation

Castellote

Kofler²,

Mayr³

et al. 2017

BioMed Research International

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“…Although most research on the StartReact involved simple RT tasks (for recent reviews, see (Marinovic and Tresilian, 2016;Nonnekes et al, 2015), some studies have investigated the early release of motor actions by LAS using choice RT tasks. Kumru et al (2006) showed that an LAS could trigger whatever motor response was prepared at the time of stimulation (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unexpected acoustic stimulation during action preparation reveals gradual re-specification of movement direction

et al. 2017

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(2017) Unexpected acoustic stimulation during action preparation reveals gradual respecification of movement direction. Neuroscience, 348 . pp. 23-32. Permanent WRAP URL:http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/88345 Copyright and reuse:The Warwick Research Archive Portal (WRAP) makes this work by researchers of the University of Warwick available open access under the following conditions. Copyright © and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. To the extent reasonable and practicable the material made available in WRAP has been checked for eligibility before being made available.Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. Provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. A note on versions:The version presented here may differ from the published version or, version of record, if you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the 'permanent WRAP url' above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription.For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: wrap@warwick.ac.uk 1 Title: Unexpected acoustic stimulation during action preparation reveals gradual respecification of movement direction. Neuroscience (accepted)Running Head: Sounds reveal gradual re-specification of actions. Authors and AffiliationsWelber Marinovic 1 *, James Tresilian 2 , Jack L. AbstractA loud auditory stimulus (LAS), delivered during movement preparation, can help the initiation and execution of planned actions. LAS is often used as a tool to investigate motor preparation in simple reaction time (RT) tasks, where all movement parameters are known in advance. In this report, we used LAS to examine direction specification in simple and choice RT tasks. This approach allowed us to investigate how the specification of movement direction unfolds during preparation. In two experiments, participants responded to the appearance of an imperative stimulus (IS) with a ballistic wrist force directed towards one of two targets. In probe trials, LAS (120 dBa) was delivered around the time of IS presentation. In Experiment 1, reaction times in the simple RT task were faster when the LAS was presented, but the effect on the movement kinematics was negligible. In the Choice RT task, however, movement direction variability increased when the LAS was presented. In Experiment 2, when we primed movements towards one direction, our analyses revealed that the longer participants took to start a movement, the more accurate their responses became. Our results show not only that movement direction reprogramming occurs quickly and continuously, but also that LAS can be a valuable tool to obtain meaningful readouts of the state of the motor system for action.

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“…This SAS‐related facilitation of RT is achieved while maintaining similar movement kinematics and EMG temporal characteristics to those seen in control trials, a phenomenon that has been termed the ‘StartReact’ effect (Valls‐Solé et al ., ; Carlsen et al ., ). While it was originally suggested that this RT facilitation may simply be due to the summation of the general startle reflex and the voluntary response, there is ample evidence that the RT facilitation is due to the involuntary triggering of a prepared movement (see Carlsen et al ., ; Marinovic & Tresilian, for reviews). While the use of a SAS has allowed researchers to investigate the preparation and initiation mechanisms underlying the production of various movement types in both healthy (Siegmund et al ., ; Castellote et al ., ; MacKinnon et al ., ; Oude Nijhuis et al ., ) and clinical populations (Carlsen et al ., , ; Honeycutt & Perreault, ; Nonnekes et al ., ), the mechanism behind the RT shortening effect of a SAS remains widely debated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Sub‐threshold transcranial magnetic stimulation applied after the go‐signal facilitates reaction time under control but not startle conditions

Smith

Carlsen

2018

Eur J of Neuroscience

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The presentation of a startling acoustic stimulus (SAS) in a simple reaction time (RT) task significantly reduces RT due to the involuntary early initiation of a prepared movement; however, the underlying neural mechanism remains unclear. It has been proposed that a SAS triggers a cortically stored motor program by involuntarily increasing initiation-related activation. Sub-threshold transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can be used to investigate cortical processes, as it increases cortical excitability for 6-30 ms and significantly reduces RT. The purpose of the present experiments was to determine whether the application of sub-threshold TMS over motor cortex in close temporal proximity to a SAS would facilitate startle RT in the same manner as control RT, providing evidence for cortical involvement in startle-related RTs. Participants completed a simple RT task requiring targeted wrist extension in response to an auditory go-signal, which was randomly replaced by a SAS on 25% of trials. On a subset of trials, sub-threshold TMS was applied 30 ms following the go-signal in control trials or at -15, 0, +15 or +30 ms with respect to the SAS in startle trials. In all three experiments, sham and real TMS significantly reduced RT in control trials, with real TMS having a larger effect, but there was no effect of either real or sham TMS on startle-related RT. These results suggest that there may be limited cortical involvement in the initiation of movements in response to a SAS. As an alternative, startle may produce the fastest possible RTs, with little room for additional facilitation.

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Triggering prepared actions by sudden sounds: reassessing the evidence for a single mechanism

Cited by 56 publications

References 185 publications

Evidence for Startle Effects due to Externally Induced Lower Limb Movements: Implications in Neurorehabilitation

Evidence for Startle Effects due to Externally Induced Lower Limb Movements: Implications in Neurorehabilitation

Unexpected acoustic stimulation during action preparation reveals gradual re-specification of movement direction

Sub‐threshold transcranial magnetic stimulation applied after the go‐signal facilitates reaction time under control but not startle conditions

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