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Reaching during virtual rotation: context specific compensations for expected coriolis forcesSubjects who are in an enclosed chamber rotating at constant velocity feel physically stationary but make errors when pointing to targets. Reaching paths and endpoints are deviated in the direction of the transient inertial Coriolis forces generated by their arm movements. By contrast, reaching movements made during natural, voluntary torso rotation seem to be accurate, and subjects are unaware of the Coriolis forces generated by their movements. This pattern suggests that the motor plan for reaching movements uses a representation of body motion to prepare compensations for impending self-generated accelerative loads on the arm. If so, stationary subjects who are experiencing illusory self-rotation should make reaching errors when pointing to a target. These errors should be in the direction opposite the Coriolis accelerations their arm movements would generate if they were actually rotating. To determine whether such compensations exist, we had subjects in four experiments make visually open-loop reaches to targets while they were experiencing compelling illusory self-rotation and displacement induced by rotation of a complex, natural visual scene. The paths and endpoints of their initial reaching movements were significantly displaced leftward during counterclockwise illusory rotary displacement and rightward during clockwise illusory self-displacement. Subjects reached in a curvilinear path to the wrong place. These reaching errors were opposite in direction to the Coriolis forces that would have been generated by their arm movements during actual torso rotation. The magnitude of path curvature and endpoint errors increased as the speed of illusory self-rotation increased. In successive reaches, movement paths became straighter and endpoints more accurate despite the absence of visual error feedback or tactile feedback about target location. When subjects were again presented a stationary scene, their initial reaches were indistinguishable from pre-exposure baseline, indicating a total absence of aftereffects. These experiments demonstrate that the nervous system automatically compensates in a context-specific fashion for the Coriolis forces associated with reaching movements.
Document ID
20040141537
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Cohn, J. V.
(Brandeis University Waltham, Massachusetts 02454-9110, United States)
DiZio, P.
Lackner, J. R.
Date Acquired
August 22, 2013
Publication Date
June 1, 2000
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of neurophysiology
Volume: 83
Issue: 6
ISSN: 0022-3077
Subject Category
Life Sciences (General)
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Clinical Trial
NASA Discipline Neuroscience
Non-NASA Center
NASA Program Biomedical Research and Countermeasures

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