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Applying Incongruent Visual-Tactile Stimuli during Object Transfer with Vibro-Tactile Feedback
Published on: May 23, 2019
Active movement restores veridical event-timing after tactile adaptation
Alice Tomassini1, Monica Gori, David Burr
1Department of Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy.
Journal of Neurophysiology
|July 27, 2012
Summary
Active movement resets the brain's sense of time. Voluntary actions before judging duration correct distorted tactile perception caused by sensory adaptation, restoring accurate event timing.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Sensory Perception
- Motor Control
Background:
- Sensory adaptation can distort the perception of time.
- Temporal illusions are often linked to sensory processing and action execution.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how voluntary motor acts influence adaptation-induced temporal distortions.
- To determine if active movement resets tactile duration adaptation.
Main Methods:
- Subjects adapted to tactile motion, inducing temporal distortion.
- Duration judgments were made with and without a preceding voluntary motor act.
- Passive movements were used as a control condition.
Main Results:
- Adaptation to tactile motion significantly contracted perceived duration.
- Voluntary motor acts before duration judgment annulled this distortion, restoring veridical time perception.
- Passive movements did not affect the adaptation-induced temporal distortion.
Conclusions:
- Active movement, specifically motor commands, resets tactile duration adaptation.
- The brain uses intention-to-move signals to recalibrate timing mechanisms for upcoming scenarios.
- This active reset mechanism ensures accurate temporal information processing after movement.
