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The role of reafference in recalibration of limb movement control and locomotionThe reafference model has frequently been used to explain spatial constancy during eye and head movements. We have found that its basic concepts also form part of the information processing necessary for the control and recalibration of reaching movements. Reaching was studied in a novel force environment--a rotating room that creates centripetal forces of the type that could someday substitute for gravity in space flight, and Coriolis forces which are side effects of rotation. We found that inertial, noncontacting Coriolis forces deviate the path and endpoint of reaching movements, a finding that shows the inadequacy of equilibrium position models of movement control. Repeated movements in the rotating room quickly lead to normal movement patterns and to a failure to perceive the perturbing forces. The first movements made after rotation stops, without Coriolis forces present, show mirror-image deviations and evoke perception of a perturbing force even though none is present. These patterns of sensorimotor control and adaptation can largely be explained on the basis of comparisons of efference copy, reafferent muscle spindle, and cutaneous mechanoreceptor signals. We also describe experiments on human locomotion using an apparatus similar to that which Mittelstaedt used to study the optomotor response of the Eristalis fly. These results show that the reafference principle relates as well to the perception of the forces acting on and exerted by the body during voluntary locomotion.
Document ID
20040172939
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Lackner, J. R.
(Brandeis University Waltham, Massachusetts, United States)
DiZio, P.
Date Acquired
August 22, 2013
Publication Date
July 1, 1997
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of vestibular research : equilibrium & orientation
Volume: 7
Issue: 4
ISSN: 0957-4271
Subject Category
Life Sciences (General)
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
NASA Discipline Neuroscience
Non-NASA Center

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