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Piras A, Raffi M, Perazzolo M, Squatrito S. Influence of heading perception in the control of posture. J Electromyogr Kinesiol 2018; 39:89-94. [PMID: 29454231 DOI: 10.1016/j.jelekin.2018.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2017] [Revised: 12/24/2017] [Accepted: 02/09/2018] [Indexed: 10/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The optic flow visual input directly influences the postural control. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between visually induced heading perception and postural stability, using optic flow stimulation. The dots were accelerated to simulate a heading direction to the left or to the right of the vertical midline. The participants were instructed to indicate the perceived optic flow direction by making a saccade to the simulated heading direction. We simultaneously acquired electromyographyc and center of pressure (COP) signals. We analysed the postural sway during three different epochs: (i) the first 500 ms after the stimulus onset, (ii) 500 ms before saccade onset, epoch in which the perception is achieved and, (iii) 500 ms after saccade onset. Participants exhibited a greater postural instability before the saccade, when the perception of heading was achieved, and the sway increased further after the saccade. These results indicate that the conscious representation of the self-motion affects the neural control of posture more than the mere visual motion, producing more instability when visual signals are contrasting with eye movements. It could be that part of these effects are due to the interactions between gaze shift and optic flow.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Piras
- Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
| | - Milena Raffi
- Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Monica Perazzolo
- Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Salvatore Squatrito
- Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
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Bartolo A, Rossetti Y, Revol P, Urquizar C, Pisella L, Coello Y. Reachability judgement in optic ataxia: Effect of peripheral vision on hand and target perception in depth. Cortex 2017. [PMID: 28625347 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.05.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
The concept of peripersonal space was first proposed by Rizzolatti, Scandolara, Matelli, and Gentilucci (1981), who introduced the term to highlight the close links between somatosensory and visual processing for stimuli close to the body and suggested that this near-body space could in fact be characterized as an action space (Rizzolatti, Fadiga, Fogassi, & Gallese, 1997). Supporting this idea, patients with right hemisphere lesions have been described as impaired in performing actions towards objects and in perceiving their location - but only when the objects were presented within arm's reach (Bartolo, Carlier, Hassaini, Martin, & Coello, 2014; Brain, 1941). Whether the deficit of optic ataxia patients in processing target locations for action has an effect on the representation of peripersonal space has never been explored. The present study highlights optic ataxia patients' specific difficulties in processing hand-to-target distances in a motor task and in a perceptual task requiring identification of what is reachable in the visual environment. The difficulties are especially evident when both the target and the hand are perceived in the visual periphery. Indeed, when patient I.G. was able to fixate the target, her reaching accuracy and her perception of reachable space both largely improved. Furthermore, the difficulties were enhanced when the hand and the target were both in the lower visual field (in a fixed-far condition vs a fixed-near condition). This novel up-down dimension of optic ataxia fits with the larger representation of the lower visual field in the posterior parietal cortex (Pitzalis et al., 2013; Previc, 1990).
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela Bartolo
- Cognitive and Affective Sciences Laboratory (SCALab), UMR CNRS 9193, University of Lille, Villeneuve d'Ascq, France; Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
| | - Yves Rossetti
- Plate-forme 'Mouvement et Handicap', Hôpital Henry-Gabrielle, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Saint-Genis-Laval, France; Inserm UMR-S 1028, CNRS UMR 5292, ImpAct, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, Université Lyon-1, Bron, France.
| | - Patrice Revol
- Plate-forme 'Mouvement et Handicap', Hôpital Henry-Gabrielle, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Saint-Genis-Laval, France; Inserm UMR-S 1028, CNRS UMR 5292, ImpAct, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, Université Lyon-1, Bron, France
| | - Christian Urquizar
- Plate-forme 'Mouvement et Handicap', Hôpital Henry-Gabrielle, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Saint-Genis-Laval, France; Inserm UMR-S 1028, CNRS UMR 5292, ImpAct, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, Université Lyon-1, Bron, France
| | - Laure Pisella
- Inserm UMR-S 1028, CNRS UMR 5292, ImpAct, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, Université Lyon-1, Bron, France
| | - Yann Coello
- Cognitive and Affective Sciences Laboratory (SCALab), UMR CNRS 9193, University of Lille, Villeneuve d'Ascq, France.
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Frontoparietal involvement in passively guided shape and length discrimination: a comparison between subcortical stroke patients and healthy controls. Exp Brain Res 2012; 220:179-89. [PMID: 22648204 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-012-3128-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2011] [Accepted: 05/09/2012] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Fifty to 85 % of patients with sensorimotor hemiparesis following stroke encounter impaired tactile processing and proprioception. Sensory feedback is, however, paramount for motor recovery. Sensory feedback through passively guided somatosensory discrimination exercises has been used in therapy, but so far, no studies have investigated which brain areas are involved in this process. Therefore, we performed a study with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine brain areas related to discriminating passively guided shape and length discrimination in stroke patients and evaluate whether they differed from healthy age-matched controls. Eight subcortical stroke patients discriminated different shapes or length based on passive finger movements provided by an fMRI compatible robot. The data were contrasted to a control condition whereby patients discriminated music fragments. Passively guided somatosensory discrimination versus music discrimination elicited activation in similar frontoparietal areas in stroke patients compared to the healthy control group. Still, patients had increased activation in the right angular gyrus, left superior lingual gyrus, and right cerebellar lobule VI compared to healthy volunteers. Conversely, healthy volunteers activated the right precentral gyrus to a greater extent than patients. In both groups, shape discrimination resulted in anterior intraparietal sulcus and premotor activation, while length discrimination elicited a more medially located parietal activation with mainly right-sided premotor activity. The current study is a first step in clarifying brain activations during passively guided shape and length discrimination in subcortical stroke patients. Research into the effects of the use of sensory discrimination exercises on brain reorganization and brain plasticity is encouraged.
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Ustinova K, Perkins J. Gaze and viewing angle influence visual stabilization of upright posture. Brain Behav 2011; 1:19-25. [PMID: 22398978 PMCID: PMC3217671 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.10] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2011] [Revised: 05/19/2011] [Accepted: 05/27/2011] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Focusing gaze on a target helps stabilize upright posture. We investigated how this visual stabilization can be affected by observing a target presented under different gaze and viewing angles. In a series of 10-second trials, participants (N = 20, 29.3 ± 9 years of age) stood on a force plate and fixed their gaze on a figure presented on a screen at a distance of 1 m. The figure changed position (gaze angle: eye level (0°), 25° up or down), vertical body orientation (viewing angle: at eye level but rotated 25° as if leaning toward or away from the participant), or both (gaze and viewing angle: 25° up or down with the rotation equivalent of a natural visual perspective). Amplitude of participants' sagittal displacement, surface area, and angular position of the center of gravity (COG) were compared. Results showed decreased COG velocity and amplitude for up and down gaze angles. Changes in viewing angles resulted in altered body alignment and increased amplitude of COG displacement. No significant changes in postural stability were observed when both gaze and viewing angles were altered. Results suggest that both the gaze angle and viewing perspective may be essential variables of the visuomotor system modulating postural responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ki Ustinova
- Graduate Program in Physical Therapy, Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions, Central Michigan University Michigan 48859
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Bédard P, Wu M, Sanes JN. Brain activation related to combinations of gaze position, visual input, and goal-directed hand movements. Cereb Cortex 2010; 21:1273-82. [PMID: 20974688 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhq205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans reach to and acquire objects by transforming visual targets into action commands. How the brain integrates goals specified in a visual framework to signals into a suitable framework for an action plan requires clarification whether visual input, per se, interacts with gaze position to formulate action plans. To further evaluate brain control of visual-motor integration, we assessed brain activation, using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Humans performed goal-directed movements toward visible or remembered targets while fixating gaze left or right from center. We dissociated movement planning from performance using a delayed-response task and manipulated target visibility by its availability throughout the delay or blanking it 500 ms after onset. We found strong effects of gaze orientation on brain activation during planning and interactive effects of target visibility and gaze orientation on movement-related activation during performance in parietal and premotor cortices (PM), cerebellum, and basal ganglia, with more activation for rightward gaze at a visible target and no gaze modulation for movements directed toward remembered targets. These results demonstrate effects of gaze position on PM and movement-related processes and provide new information how visual signals interact with gaze position in transforming visual inputs into motor goals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Bédard
- Department of Neuroscience, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA
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Cowper-Smith CD, Lau EYY, Helmick CA, Eskes GA, Westwood DA. Neural coding of movement direction in the healthy human brain. PLoS One 2010; 5:e13330. [PMID: 20967197 PMCID: PMC2954155 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0013330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2010] [Accepted: 09/16/2010] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Neurophysiological studies in monkeys show that activity of neurons in primary cortex (M1), pre-motor cortex (PMC), and cerebellum varies systematically with the direction of reaching movements. These neurons exhibit preferred direction tuning, where the level of neural activity is highest when movements are made in the preferred direction (PD), and gets progressively lower as movements are made at increasing degrees of offset from the PD. Using a functional magnetic resonance imaging adaptation (fMRI-A) paradigm, we show that PD coding does exist in regions of the human motor system that are homologous to those observed in non-human primates. Consistent with predictions of the PD model, we show adaptation (i.e., a lower level) of the blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) time-course signal in M1, PMC, SMA, and cerebellum when consecutive wrist movements were made in the same direction (0° offset) relative to movements offset by 90° or 180°. The BOLD signal in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex adapted equally in all movement offset conditions, mitigating against the possibility that the present results are the consequence of differential task complexity or attention to action in each movement offset condition.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Esther Y. Y. Lau
- Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Carl A. Helmick
- Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
| | - Gail A. Eskes
- Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
| | - David A. Westwood
- School of Health and Human Performance, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
- * E-mail:
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Filimon F. Human Cortical Control of Hand Movements: Parietofrontal Networks for Reaching, Grasping, and Pointing. Neuroscientist 2010; 16:388-407. [DOI: 10.1177/1073858410375468] [Citation(s) in RCA: 193] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
In primates, control of the limb depends on many cortical areas. Whereas specialized parietofrontal circuits have been proposed for different movements in macaques, functional neuroimaging in humans has revealed widespread, overlapping activations for hand and eye movements and for movements such as reaching and grasping. This review examines the involvement of frontal and parietal areas in hand and arm movements in humans as revealed with functional neuroimaging. The degree of functional specialization, possible homologies with macaque cortical regions, and differences between frontal and posterior parietal areas are discussed, as well as a possible organization of hand movements with respect to different spatial reference frames. The available evidence supports a cortical organization along gradients of sensory (visual to somatosensory) and effector (eye to hand) preferences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Flavia Filimon
- Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany,
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Beurze SM, Toni I, Pisella L, Medendorp WP. Reference frames for reach planning in human parietofrontal cortex. J Neurophysiol 2010; 104:1736-45. [PMID: 20660416 DOI: 10.1152/jn.01044.2009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
To plan a reaching movement, the brain must integrate information about the spatial goal of the reach with positional information about the selected hand. Recent monkey neurophysiological evidence suggests that a mixture of reference frames is involved in this process. Here, using 3T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we tested the role of gaze-centered and body-centered reference frames in reach planning in the human brain. Fourteen human subjects planned and executed arm movements to memorized visual targets, while hand starting position and gaze direction were monitored and varied on a trial-by-trial basis. We further introduced a variable delay between target presentation and movement onset to dissociate cerebral preparatory activity from stimulus- and movement-related responses. By varying the position of the target and hand relative to the gaze line, we distinguished cerebral responses that increased for those movements requiring the integration of peripheral target and hand positions in a gaze-centered frame. Posterior parietal and dorsal premotor areas showed such gaze-centered integration effects. In regions closer to the primary motor cortex, body-centered hand position effects were found. These results suggest that, in humans, spatially contiguous neuronal populations operate in different frames of reference, supporting sensorimotor transformations according to gaze-centered or body-centered coordinates. The former appears suited for calculating a difference vector between target and hand location, whereas the latter may be related to the implementation of a joint-based motor command.
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Affiliation(s)
- S M Beurze
- Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, P.O. Box 9104, NL-6500 HE, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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Ustinova K, Perkins J, Szostakowski L, Tamkei L, Leonard W. Effect of viewing angle on arm reaching while standing in a virtual environment: potential for virtual rehabilitation. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2010; 133:180-90. [PMID: 20021998 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2009.11.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2009] [Revised: 11/08/2009] [Accepted: 11/14/2009] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Functional arm movements, such as reaching while standing, are planned and executed according to our perception of body position in space and are relative to environmental objects. The angle under which the environment is observed is one component used in creating this perception. This suggests that manipulation of viewing angle may modulate whole body movement to affect performance. We tested this by comparing its effect on reaching in a virtually generated environment. Eleven young healthy individuals performed forward and lateral reaches in the virtual environment, presented on a flat screen in third-person perspective. Participants saw a computer-generated model (avatar) of themselves standing in a courtyard facing a semi-circular hedge with flowers. The image was presented in five different viewing angles ranging from seeing the avatar from behind (0 degrees), to viewing from overhead (90 degrees). Participants attempted to touch the furthest flower possible without losing balance or stepping. Kinematic data were collected to analyze endpoint displacement, arm-postural coordination and center of mass (COM) displacement. Results showed that reach distance was greatest with angular perspectives of approximately 45-77.5 degrees , which are larger than those used in analogous real world situations. Larger reaches were characterized by increased involvement of leg and trunk body segments, altered inter-segmental coordination, and decreased inter-segmental movement time lag. Thus a viewing angle can be a critical visuomotor variable modulating motor coordination of the whole body and related functional performance. These results can be used in designing virtual reality games, in ergonomic design, teleoperation training, and in designing virtual rehabilitation programs that re-train functional movement in vulnerable individuals.
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Sharikadze M, Cong DK, Staude G, Deubel H, Wolf W. Dual-tasking: Is manual tapping independent of concurrently executed saccades? Brain Res 2009; 1283:41-9. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2009.05.065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2009] [Revised: 05/28/2009] [Accepted: 05/28/2009] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
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Bédard P, Sanes JN. Gaze and hand position effects on finger-movement-related human brain activation. J Neurophysiol 2008; 101:834-42. [PMID: 19005002 DOI: 10.1152/jn.90683.2008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans commonly use their hands to move and to interact with their environment by processing visual and proprioceptive information to determine the location of a goal-object and the initial hand position. It remains elusive, however, how the human brain fully uses this sensory information to generate accurate movements. In monkeys, it appears that frontal and parietal areas use and combine gaze and hand signals to generate movements, whereas in humans, prior work has separately assessed how the brain uses these two signals. Here we investigated whether and how the human brain integrates gaze orientation and hand position during simple visually triggered finger tapping. We hypothesized that parietal, frontal, and subcortical regions involved in movement production would also exhibit modulation of movement-related activation as a function of gaze and hand positions. We used functional MRI to measure brain activation while healthy young adults performed a visually cued finger movement and fixed gaze at each of three locations and held the arm in two different configurations. We found several areas that exhibited activation related to a mixture of these hand and gaze positions; these included the sensory-motor cortex, supramarginal gyrus, superior parietal lobule, superior frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate, and left cerebellum. We also found regions within the left insula, left cuneus, left midcingulate gyrus, left putamen, and right tempo-occipital junction with activation driven only by gaze orientation. Finally, clusters with hand position effects were found in the cerebellum bilaterally. Our results indicate that these areas integrate at least two signals to perform visual-motor actions and that these could be used to subserve sensory-motor transformations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Bédard
- Department of Neuroscience, Alpert Medical School, Brown University, 185 Meeting St., Box GL-N, Providence, RI 02912, USA
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