Differential contributions of vision, touch and muscle proprioception to the coding of hand movements.

To further elucidate the mechanisms underlying multisensory integration, this study examines the controversial issue of whether congruent inputs from three different sensory sources can enhance the perception of hand movement. Illusory sensations of clockwise rotations of the right hand were induced by either separately or simultaneously stimulating visual, tactile and muscle proprioceptive channels at various intensity levels. For this purpose, mechanical vibrations were applied to the pollicis longus muscle group in the subjects' wrists, and a textured disk was rotated under the palmar skin of the subjects' right hands while a background visual scene was projected onto the rotating disk. The elicited kinaesthetic illusions were copied by the subjects in real time and the EMG activity in the adductor and abductor wrist muscles was recorded. The results show that the velocity of the perceived movements and the amplitude of the corresponding motor responses were modulated by the nature and intensity of the stimulation. Combining two sensory modalities resulted in faster movement illusions, except for the case of visuo-tactile co-stimulation. When a third sensory input was added to the bimodal combinations, the perceptual responses increased only when a muscle proprioceptive stimulation was added to a visuo-tactile combination. Otherwise, trisensory stimulation did not override bimodal conditions that already included a muscle proprioceptive stimulation. We confirmed that vision or touch alone can encode the kinematic parameters of hand movement, as is known for muscle proprioception. When these three sensory modalities are available, they contribute unequally to kinaesthesia. In addition to muscle proprioception, the complementary kinaesthetic content of visual or tactile inputs may optimize the velocity estimation of an on-going movement, whereas the redundant kinaesthetic content of the visual and tactile inputs may rather enhance the latency of the perception.

Combined contribution of tactile and proprioceptive feedback to hand movement perception.

UNLABELLED: Here we investigated how the tactile modality is used along with muscle proprioception in hand movement perception, whether these two sensory inputs are centrally integrated and whether they work complementarily or concurrently. The illusory right hand rotations induced in eleven volunteers by a textured disk scrolling under their hand in two directions at three velocities and/or by mechanical vibration applied to their wrist muscles at three frequencies were compared. The kinesthetic illusions were copied by the subjects on-line with their left hand. RESULTS: 1) in all the subjects, tactile stimulation alone induced an illusory hand rotation in the opposite direction to that of the disk, and the velocity of the illusion increased non-linearly with the disk velocity: the highest gain (the illusion velocity to disk velocity ratio) occurred at the slowest disk rotation; 2) adding a consistent proprioceptive stimulus increased the perceptual effects, whereas adding a conflicting proprioceptive stimulus of increasing frequency gradually decreased the tactile illusions and reversed their initial direction; 3) under both consistent and conflicting conditions, only strong proprioceptive stimulation significantly affected the gain of the resulting illusions, whereas the largest gain always occurred at low tactile stimulation levels when the illusory movements were in the same direction as the tactile-induced illusion. Tactile information may equal or even override muscle proprioceptive information in the perception of relatively small, slow hand movements. These two somatosensory inputs may be integrated complementarily, depending on their respective relevance to the task of accurately perceiving one's own hand movements.

Countering postural posteffects following prolonged exposure to whole-body vibration: a sensorimotor treatment.

Postural stability of bulldozer operators after a day of work is investigated. When operators are no longer exposed to whole-body vibration (WBV) generated by their vehicle, their sensorimotor coordination and body representation remain altered. A sensorimotor treatment based on a set of customized voluntary movements is tested to counter and prevent potential post-work accidents due to prolonged exposure to WBV. This treatment includes muscle stretching, joint rotations, and plantar pressures, all known to minimize the deleterious effects of prolonged exposure to mechanical vibrations. The postural stability of participants (drivers; N = 12) was assessed via the area of an ellipse computed from the X and Y displacements of the center-of-pressure (CoP) in the horizontal plane when they executed a simple balance task before driving, after driving, and after driving and having performed the sensorimotor treatment. An ancillary experiment is also reported in which a group of non-driver participants (N = 12) performed the same postural task three times during the same day but without exposure to WBV or the sensorimotor treatment. Prolonged exposure to WBV significantly increased postural instability in bulldozer drivers after they operated their vehicle compared to prior to their day of work. The sensorimotor treatment allowed postural stability to return to a level that was not significantly different from that before driving. The results reveal that (1) the postural system remains perturbed after prolonged exposure to WBV due to operating a bulldozer and (2) treatment immediately after driving provides a "sensorimotor recalibration" and a significant decrease in WBV-induced postural instability. If confirmed in different contexts, the postural re-stabilizing effect of the sensorimotor treatment would constitute a simple, rapid, inexpensive, and efficient means to prevent post-work accidents due to balance-related issues.

Postural changes after sustained neck muscle contraction in persons with a lower leg amputation.

Lower leg amputation generally induces asymmetrical weight-bearing, even after rehabilitation treatment is completed. This is detrimental to the amputees' long term quality of life. In particular, increasing strains on joint surfaces that receive additional weight load causes back and leg pain, premature wear and tear and arthritis. This pilot study was designed to determine whether subjects with lower leg amputation experience postural post-effects after muscle contraction, a phenomenon already observed in healthy subjects, and whether this could improve the weight-bearing on their prosthesis. Fifteen subjects with a unilateral lower leg amputation and 17 control subjects volunteered to participate in this study. Centre of pressure (CP) position was recorded during standing posture, under eyes closed and open conditions. Recordings were carried out before the subjects performed a 30-s voluntary isometric lateral neck muscle contraction, and again 1 and 4 min after the contraction. Postural post-effects characterized by CP shift, occurred in the medio-lateral plane in the majority of the amputated (7/15 eyes closed, 9/15 eyes open) and control (9/17 eyes closed, 11/17 eyes open) subjects after the contraction. Half of these subjects had a CP shift towards the side of the contraction and the other half towards the opposite side. In four amputated subjects tested 3 months apart, shift direction remained constant. These postural changes occurred without increase in CP velocity. Thus, a 30-s voluntary isometric contraction can change the standing posture of persons with lower leg amputation. The post-effects might result from the adaptation of the postural frame of reference to the proprioceptive messages associated with the isometric contraction.

Cutaneous afferents from human plantar sole contribute to body posture awareness.

We investigated whether the tactile information from the main supporting areas of the foot are used by the brain for perceptual purposes, namely body posture awareness and body representation in space. We applied various patterns of tactile stimulation to one or both soles of unmoving and blindfolded subjects by a 60 micro-vibrator tactile matrix set in a force platform. The perceptual effects of the stimulation were assessed through a 3D joystick handled by the subjects. All subjects reported illusory perceptions of whole-body leaning. Both orientation and amplitude of these perceptions depended on the stimulation pattern. Additional kinesthetic illusions sometimes occurred along the longitudinal axis of the body. We conclude that foot sole input contributes to the coding and the spatial representation of body posture.