Grasping Preparation Enhances Orientation Change Detection
Grasping Preparation Enhances Orientation Change Detection
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DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0017675
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发表时间：
2011-03-08
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Neggers, Sebastiaan F. W.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Gutteling, Tjerk P.;Kenemans, J. Leon;Neggers, Sebastiaan F. W.
准备目标导向的运动通常需要对我们的环境进行详细分析。当拾取物体时，其方向、大小和相对距离是准备成功抓取的相关参数。因此，如果运动系统能够影响早期感知，从而尽早满足动作控制的信息处理需求，这将是有益的。然而，只有少数研究报告了动作引起的视觉感知改善的（间接）证据。因此，我们的目标是在抓取动作的规划阶段为特定特征的感知调制提供直接证据。人类受试者被指示在执行方向辨别任务的同时抓住或指向一根杆。在抓取准备过程中，杆可能会稍微改变其方向。通过分析辨别反应概率，我们发现当受试者被指示抓住横杆而不是指向它时，对方向变化的感知敏感性增加。作为对照实验，使用条亮度变化重复相同的实验，该特征与抓取或指向无关。在这里，没有发现抓握和指向之间的视觉敏感度存在差异。目前的结果构成了对视觉特征感知敏感性增加的第一个直接证据，该视觉特征与运动准备阶段的某些骨骼运动行为相关。我们推测，这种动作引起的感知改善是由从皮层运动规划区域到早期视觉皮层的神经元反馈机制控制的，类似于最近在眼球运动前不久建立的空间感知改善机制。
Preparing a goal directed movement often requires detailed analysis of our environment. When picking up an object, its orientation, size and relative distance are relevant parameters when preparing a successful grasp. It would therefore be beneficial if the motor system is able to influence early perception such that information processing needs for action control are met at the earliest possible stage. However, only a few studies reported (indirect) evidence for action-induced visual perception improvements. We therefore aimed to provide direct evidence for a feature-specific perceptual modulation during the planning phase of a grasping action. Human subjects were instructed to either grasp or point to a bar while simultaneously performing an orientation discrimination task. The bar could slightly change its orientation during grasping preparation. By analyzing discrimination response probabilities, we found increased perceptual sensitivity to orientation changes when subjects were instructed to grasp the bar, rather than point to it. As a control experiment, the same experiment was repeated using bar luminance changes, a feature that is not relevant for either grasping or pointing. Here, no differences in visual sensitivity between grasping and pointing were found. The present results constitute first direct evidence for increased perceptual sensitivity to a visual feature that is relevant for a certain skeletomotor act during the movement preparation phase. We speculate that such action-induced perception improvements are controlled by neuronal feedback mechanisms from cortical motor planning areas to early visual cortex, similar to what was recently established for spatial perception improvements shortly before eye movements.