JN Journal of Applied Physiology
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
 QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     


J Neurophysiol (October 12, 2005). doi:10.1152/jn.00453.2005
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
95/2/1134    most recent
00453.2005v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (4)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Guillaud, E.
Right arrow Articles by Blouin, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Guillaud, E.
Right arrow Articles by Blouin, J.
Submitted on May 3, 2005
Accepted on October 7, 2005

Fusion of visuo-ocular and vestibular signals in arm motor control

Etienne Guillaud, Gabriel M. Gauthier, Jean-Louis Vercher, and Jean Blouin*

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: blouin{at}laps.univ-mrs.fr.

Keeping the finger pointing at an earth-fixed object during body displacements can be achieved if compensatory arm movements counteract the effect of the rotation on the hand's position in space. Here we investigated the fusion of signals that originated from systems having different neurophysiological properties (namely the visuo-oculomotor and vestibular systems) in the production of such compensatory arm movements. To this end, we analyzed the subjects' performance in three conditions that differed according to the information they provided about relative target-body motion. This information originated either from the vestibular or visuo-oculomotor system, or from a combination of the two. To highlight the integration of visuo-oculomotor and vestibular signals, we compared the arm response to motion frequencies presumed to allow or to not allow optimal vestibular and oculomotor responses. When they could be used in isolation, the ocular signals allowed long-latency but precise kinematics control of the arm movement, while vestibular signals allowed accurate motor response early in the rotation but their contribution declined as body rotation developed. Optimal performance was obtained throughout the whole movement and for all rotation frequencies when the visuo-oculomotor and vestibular signals could be used together. This increase in hand tracking performance could not be explained by a unimodal model or an additive model of vestibular and ocular cues, even when using weighted signals. Rather, the results supported a functional model in which vestibular and visuo-oculomotor signals have different influences on the temporal and spatial aspects of hand movement compensating for body motion.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
J. Neurophysiol.Home page
H. A. Raptis, E. Dannenbaum, N. Paquet, and A. G. Feldman
Vestibular System May Provide Equivalent Motor Actions Regardless of the Number of Body Segments Involved in the Task
J Neurophysiol, June 1, 2007; 97(6): 4069 - 4078.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]




HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
Visit Other APS Journals Online
Copyright © 2005 by the The American Physiological Society.