Neuroscience
A growing body of evidence suggests that we understand other people’s actions and intentions by simulating their movements in the motor pathways of our own brain. Now a study suggests that peripheral sensation and proprioception – the sense of where our limbs are in space – also play a role in this process, specifically when it comes to inferring other people’s expectations from the way they move.
Simone Bosbach (pictured) and colleagues tested two patients, IW and GL, who, because of sensory neuropathy, have the extremely rare condition of lacking any peripheral sensation or proprioception. The patients watched a video of a man lifting different boxes. When the man was always given correct information about the weight of the boxes, the patients, like controls, were able to correctly judge whether he’d lifted a heavy or light box. However, in a second experiment, when the man was occasionally given incorrect information about the boxes’ weight, the patients, unlike controls, were unable to judge from his movements whether or not a box weighed what he had expected (except when the task was made easier using larger boxes). Patient IW also couldn’t make this judgment correctly when he viewed videos of himself performing the same lifting task.
It’s not that the patients were incapable of forming a motor representation of the box lifting movements per se, otherwise IW wouldn’t have been able to lift the boxes. Rather, the authors believe the patients’ lack of peripheral sensation and proprioception affected their ability to activate or sustain a mental simulation of the lifting movements when watching them performed. The researchers said “[The patients’] reduced ability in the present task suggests that to judge mismatches between action preparation and performance in others, one has to access subconscious sensorimotor programmes, which IW and GL may lack”.
__________________________________
Bosbach, S., Cole, J., Prinz, W. & Knoblich, G. (2005). Inferring another’s expectation from action: the role of peripheral sensation. Nature Neuroscience, 8, 1295-1297.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
- Depression Linked With Impaired Spatial Ability
Depression has a detrimental effect on people's ability to find their way around, according to researchers. Husseini Manji and colleagues compared the performance of 30 depressed patients and 19 healthy controls on a virtual reality spatial navigation...
- Patients With Tourette's Have More Self-control, Not Less
People with Tourette’s syndrome can’t stop themselves from making sudden repeated movements or noises, so you might infer that they have an impairment in their mental control processes. On the contrary, according to a new study they actually have...
- Deep Brain Stimulation For Phantom Limb Pain
A clinical study of deep brain stimulation for the treatment of phantom limb pain (Bittar et al., 2005) reviews not only the treatments and mechanisms of phantom limb pain, but the historical aspects as well: The 16th century French military surgeon Ambroise...
- Neuropsychology Abstract Of The Day: Cognitive Correlates Of Impulsive Behavior In Mlld Alzheimer's Disease
A multidimensional approach to impulsivity changes in mild Alzheimer's disease and control participants: Cognitive correlates Cortex. 2011 Sep 2; Rochat L, Billieux J, Juillerat Van der Linden AC, Annoni JM, Zekry D, Gold G, Van der Linden M Abstract...
- Stroke And The Myomo E100
From today's New York Times: In Latest Robotics, New Hope for Stroke Patients By AMANDA SCHAFFER The New York Times Published: July 10, 2007 Mary O’Regan more or less ignored her left arm for 20 years. As a sophomore in college, in 1986, she fell...
Neuroscience
How we infer other people's expectations
A growing body of evidence suggests that we understand other people’s actions and intentions by simulating their movements in the motor pathways of our own brain. Now a study suggests that peripheral sensation and proprioception – the sense of where our limbs are in space – also play a role in this process, specifically when it comes to inferring other people’s expectations from the way they move.Simone Bosbach (pictured) and colleagues tested two patients, IW and GL, who, because of sensory neuropathy, have the extremely rare condition of lacking any peripheral sensation or proprioception. The patients watched a video of a man lifting different boxes. When the man was always given correct information about the weight of the boxes, the patients, like controls, were able to correctly judge whether he’d lifted a heavy or light box. However, in a second experiment, when the man was occasionally given incorrect information about the boxes’ weight, the patients, unlike controls, were unable to judge from his movements whether or not a box weighed what he had expected (except when the task was made easier using larger boxes). Patient IW also couldn’t make this judgment correctly when he viewed videos of himself performing the same lifting task.
It’s not that the patients were incapable of forming a motor representation of the box lifting movements per se, otherwise IW wouldn’t have been able to lift the boxes. Rather, the authors believe the patients’ lack of peripheral sensation and proprioception affected their ability to activate or sustain a mental simulation of the lifting movements when watching them performed. The researchers said “[The patients’] reduced ability in the present task suggests that to judge mismatches between action preparation and performance in others, one has to access subconscious sensorimotor programmes, which IW and GL may lack”.
__________________________________
Bosbach, S., Cole, J., Prinz, W. & Knoblich, G. (2005). Inferring another’s expectation from action: the role of peripheral sensation. Nature Neuroscience, 8, 1295-1297.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
- Depression Linked With Impaired Spatial Ability
Depression has a detrimental effect on people's ability to find their way around, according to researchers. Husseini Manji and colleagues compared the performance of 30 depressed patients and 19 healthy controls on a virtual reality spatial navigation...
- Patients With Tourette's Have More Self-control, Not Less
People with Tourette’s syndrome can’t stop themselves from making sudden repeated movements or noises, so you might infer that they have an impairment in their mental control processes. On the contrary, according to a new study they actually have...
- Deep Brain Stimulation For Phantom Limb Pain
A clinical study of deep brain stimulation for the treatment of phantom limb pain (Bittar et al., 2005) reviews not only the treatments and mechanisms of phantom limb pain, but the historical aspects as well: The 16th century French military surgeon Ambroise...
- Neuropsychology Abstract Of The Day: Cognitive Correlates Of Impulsive Behavior In Mlld Alzheimer's Disease
A multidimensional approach to impulsivity changes in mild Alzheimer's disease and control participants: Cognitive correlates Cortex. 2011 Sep 2; Rochat L, Billieux J, Juillerat Van der Linden AC, Annoni JM, Zekry D, Gold G, Van der Linden M Abstract...
- Stroke And The Myomo E100
From today's New York Times: In Latest Robotics, New Hope for Stroke Patients By AMANDA SCHAFFER The New York Times Published: July 10, 2007 Mary O’Regan more or less ignored her left arm for 20 years. As a sophomore in college, in 1986, she fell...