Uncertainty in when a perturbation will arrive influences the preparation and release of triggered responses

Heckman, Rosalind L.; Perreault, Eric J.

doi:10.1007/s00221-019-05592-1

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…All of these paradigms promote a degree of response urgency which may be an important factor in dictating reactive responses even without a SAS. As seen in the work by Heckman and colleagues (2023), a SAS in such scenarios can facilitate congruent movements directed toward a stimulus (pro-reaches in our case) or voluntary movements directed elsewhere (e.g., the RTs on correct anti-reach trials). Future studies of the StartReact phenomenon in clinical or neurophysiological settings may benefit from incorporating paradigms that promote a degree of response urgency.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…8). Similar facilitating effects of a SAS are also seen in launching interceptive actions (Tresilian and Plooy, 2006), and in promoting accurate responses in a forced RT paradigm (Heckman et al, 2023). All of these paradigms promote a degree of response urgency which may be an important factor in dictating reactive responses even without a SAS.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…The primate brain can prepare alternative motor programs simultaneously (Cisek and Kalaska, 2005), and this idea could be directly tested by introducing more potential target locations. However, robust EVRs can be evoked even in the absence of any motor preparation and in scenarios where either limb could be moved (Kearsley et al, 2022; Selen et al, 2023), and a SAS facilitates accurate responses in conditions of multiple potential targets in forced RT paradigm (Heckman et al, 2023). Our data also show that a SAS did influence neck and upper limb muscle activity within 20-40ms, which we attribute to a non-specific acoustic startle reflex (Brown et al, 1991a, 1991b).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Startling acoustic stimuli hasten choice reaching tasks by strengthening, but not changing the timing of, express visuomotor responses

Weerdesteyn,

Kearsley,

Cecala

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Responding to an external stimulus takes ∼200 ms, but this can be shortened to as little as ∼120 ms with the additional presentation of a startling acoustic stimulus. ThisStartReactphenomenon is hypothesized to arise from the involuntary release of a fully prepared movement. However, a startling acoustic stimulus also expedites rapid mid-flight, reactive adjustments to unpredictably displaced targets which could not have been prepared in advance. We surmise that for such rapid visuomotor transformations, intersensory facilitation may occur between auditory signals arising from the startling acoustic stimulus and visual signals relayed along a fast subcortical network. To explore this, we examined the StartReact phenomenon in a task that produces express visuomotor responses, which are brief bursts of muscle activity that arise from a fast tectoreticulospinal network. We measured express visuomotor responses on upper limb muscles in humans as they reached either toward or away from a stimulus in blocks of trials where movements could either be fully prepared or not, occasionally pairing stimulus presentation with a startling acoustic stimulus. The startling acoustic stimulus reliably produced larger but fixed-latency express visuomotor responses in a target-selective manner. Consistent with the StartReact phenomenon, it shortened reaction times, which were as fast for prepared and unprepared movements. Our results confirm that the StartReact phenomenon can be elicited for reactive movements without any motor preparation, consistent with intersensory facilitation. We propose the reticular formation to be the likely node for intersensory convergence during the most rapid transformations of vision into targeted reaching actions.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Startling acoustic stimuli hasten choice reaching tasks by strengthening, but not changing the timing of, express visuomotor responses

Weerdesteyn,

Kearsley,

Cecala

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Second, preconditioning by means of a weak pre-stimulus reduces the reflex magnitude ( Silverstein et al, 1980 ). The magnitude is influenced by the uncertainty or unexpectedness of the stimuli, the position of a subject, and loading ( Dreissen and Tijssen, 2012 , Heckman and Perreault, 2019 ). The position of the subject can influence the magnitude of the response by letting the subject perform a pre-existing voluntary isocontraction, which will induce a superimposed early response followed by EMG silence period of 100–130 ms ( Davis, 1948 , Rossignol, 1975 ).…”

Section: Startle Syndromesmentioning

confidence: 99%