Haptic Identification of Virtual Surfaces

描述（由申请人提供）：日常任务，如处理和操纵物体，可能对中风幸存者构成困难的挑战。我们的大脑控制手臂运动的方式很可能是由我们与物体互动的经验及其机械和动态特性塑造的。在到达运动中，关于表面和障碍物的信息被隐含地纳入我们的行动中。已经进行了许多研究来理解人类如何通过触摸获取触觉信息。也有大量的工作进行，以了解我们如何产生达到运动。虽然这些主题中的每一个本身对于理解我们如何与环境互动都很重要，但很明显，对环境互动的真正理解涉及触觉互动以及达到运动所涉及的神经过程的同时结合。然而，很少的工作已经执行，以了解如何运动的触觉感觉的影响。这个建议将检查神经过程中涉及的达到运动接触固定装置。我的目标是把触觉研究和运动控制研究纳入一个统一的概念框架。我假设触觉与表面的相互作用可以描述的神经系统的两个不同的运动原语的组合：位置控制原语和力控制原语。该提案将提出实验和计算建模，以确定这些原语是否确实存在于神经系统中，以及这些原语是否可以被训练以增强触觉感知。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Everyday tasks, such as handling and manipulating objects, may pose difficult challenges for survivors of stroke. The way in which our brain controls arm movements is likely to be shaped by our experience of interactions with objects and their mechanical and dynamic properties. During reaching movements information about surfaces and obstacles is implicitly incorporated into our actions. Much research has been performed to understand how humans acquire haptic information through touch. There has also been a great deal of work performed to understand how we generate reaching movements. While each of these topics in and of itself is important to understand how we interact with our environment, it is evident that true understanding of environmental interaction involves the simultaneous incorporation of the neural processes involved in haptic interaction as well as reaching movement. However, very little work has been performed to understand how movement is effected by haptic sense. This proposal will examine the neural processes involved during reaching movements in contact with fixtures. My goal is to bring haptic research and motor control research into a unified conceptual framework. I hypothesize that haptic interactions with surfaces can be described by the nervous system's combination of two distinct motor primitives: a position control primitive and a force control primitive. This proposal will present experiments and computational modeling to establish if these primitives do in fact exist in the nervous system, and if these primitives may be trained to enhance haptic perception.