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Parallel specification of competing sensorimotor control policies for alternative action options
Jason P Gallivan1,2,3, Lindsey Logan4, Daniel M Wolpert5
1Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Nature Neuroscience
|January 12, 2016
Summary
The brain prepares multiple movements when choosing actions. New research shows feedback gains average across options, indicating parallel computation of motor control policies before action selection.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Motor Control
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Current theories suggest the brain prepares multiple movements when faced with choices.
- Previous studies observed movement trajectories averaging target locations, supporting simultaneous reach preparation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how the brain specifies sensorimotor control policies, specifically feedback gains, during reach planning with multiple targets.
- To test if feedback gains are computed in parallel for competing action possibilities.
Main Methods:
- Subjects performed reaching movements towards multiple potential targets.
- Feedback gains were measured and analyzed for single-target versus multiple-target reach conditions.
Main Results:
- When reaching towards multiple targets, the feedback gain was an average of the gains for each individual target.
- This finding suggests that multiple sensorimotor control policies are computed in parallel.
Conclusions:
- The brain computes multiple competing sensorimotor control policies in parallel when multiple action options are available.
- This parallel computation precedes the final selection and implementation of a single motor command.
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