Recent studies extended the classical view that touch is mainly devoted to the perception of the external world. Perceptual tasks where the hand was stationary demonstrated that cutaneous stimuli from contact with objects provide the illusion of hand displacement. Here, we tested the hypothesis that touch provides auxiliary proprioceptive feedback for guiding actions. We used a well-established perceptual phenomenon to dissociate the estimates of reaching direction from touch and musculoskeletal proprioception. Participants slid their fingertip on a ridged plate to move toward a target without any visual feedback on hand location. Tactile motion estimates were biased by ridge orientation, inducing a systematic deviation in hand trajectories in accordance with our hypothesis. Results are in agreement with an ideal observer model, where motion estimates from different somatosensory cues are optimally integrated for the control of movement. These outcomes shed new light on the interplay between proprioception and touch in active tasks.

Moscatelli, A., Bianchi, M., Ciotti, S., Bettelani, G.c., Parise, C.v., Lacquaniti, F., et al. (2019). Touch as an auxiliary proprioceptive cue for movement control. SCIENCE ADVANCES, 5(6), eaaw3121 [10.1126/sciadv.aaw3121].

Touch as an auxiliary proprioceptive cue for movement control

Moscatelli, A.
;
Lacquaniti, F.;
2019-06-05

Abstract

Recent studies extended the classical view that touch is mainly devoted to the perception of the external world. Perceptual tasks where the hand was stationary demonstrated that cutaneous stimuli from contact with objects provide the illusion of hand displacement. Here, we tested the hypothesis that touch provides auxiliary proprioceptive feedback for guiding actions. We used a well-established perceptual phenomenon to dissociate the estimates of reaching direction from touch and musculoskeletal proprioception. Participants slid their fingertip on a ridged plate to move toward a target without any visual feedback on hand location. Tactile motion estimates were biased by ridge orientation, inducing a systematic deviation in hand trajectories in accordance with our hypothesis. Results are in agreement with an ideal observer model, where motion estimates from different somatosensory cues are optimally integrated for the control of movement. These outcomes shed new light on the interplay between proprioception and touch in active tasks.
5-giu-2019
Pubblicato
Rilevanza internazionale
Articolo
Esperti anonimi
Settore BIO/09 - FISIOLOGIA
English
Con Impact Factor ISI
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/6/eaaw3121
Moscatelli, A., Bianchi, M., Ciotti, S., Bettelani, G.c., Parise, C.v., Lacquaniti, F., et al. (2019). Touch as an auxiliary proprioceptive cue for movement control. SCIENCE ADVANCES, 5(6), eaaw3121 [10.1126/sciadv.aaw3121].
Moscatelli, A; Bianchi, M; Ciotti, S; Bettelani, Gc; Parise, Cv; Lacquaniti, F; Bicchi, A
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2108/214490
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