Action preparation enhances the processing of tactile targets

We present two experiments in which we investigated whether tactile attention is modulated by action preparation. In Experiment 1, participants prepared a saccade toward either the left or right index finger, depending on the pitch of a non-predictive auditory cue. In Experiment 2, participants prepared to lift the left or right index finger in response to the auditory cue. In half of the trials in both experiments, a suprathreshold vibratory stimulus was presented with equal probability to either finger, to which the participants made a speeded foot response. The results showed facilitation in the processing of targets delivered at the goal location of the prepared movement (Experiment 1), as well as at the effector of the prepared movement (Experiment 2). These results are discussed within the framework of theories on motor preparation and spatial attention.

[1]  M. Eimer,et al.  Covert unimanual response preparation triggers attention shifts to effectors rather than goal locations , 2007, Neuroscience Letters.

[2]  J. Driver,et al.  Audiovisual links in endogenous covert spatial attention. , 1996, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[3]  Martin Eimer,et al.  Covert manual response preparation triggers attentional shifts: ERP evidence for the premotor theory of attention , 2005, Neuropsychologia.

[4]  Martin Eimer,et al.  Crossmodal links in spatial attention are mediated by supramodal control processes: evidence from event-related potentials. , 2002, Psychophysiology.

[5]  D. Sparks,et al.  Saccades to somatosensory targets. I. behavioral characteristics. , 1996, Journal of neurophysiology.

[6]  Martin Eimer,et al.  Crossmodal links in spatial attention between vision, audition, and touch: evidence from event-related brain potentials , 2001, Neuropsychologia.

[7]  H. Deubel,et al.  Saccade target selection and object recognition: Evidence for a common attentional mechanism , 1996, Vision Research.

[8]  C. Spence,et al.  The Handbook of Multisensory Processing , 2004 .

[9]  Jon Driver,et al.  Shifts of attention in light and in darkness: an ERP study of supramodal attentional control and crossmodal links in spatial attention. , 2003, Brain research. Cognitive brain research.

[10]  K. Zilles,et al.  Polymodal Motion Processing in Posterior Parietal and Premotor Cortex A Human fMRI Study Strongly Implies Equivalencies between Humans and Monkeys , 2001, Neuron.

[11]  Natasha Merat,et al.  Crossmodal links between audition and touch in covert endogenous spatial attention , 2003, Perception & psychophysics.

[12]  G. Rizzolatti,et al.  Space and selective attention , 1994 .

[13]  G L Shulman,et al.  Selective attention in vibrotactile tasks: Detecting the presence and absence of amplitude change , 1991, Perception & psychophysics.

[14]  H. Deubel,et al.  Visual attention during the preparation of bimanual movements , 2008, Vision Research.

[15]  Heiner Deubel,et al.  Deployment of visual attention before sequences of goal-directed hand movements , 2006, Vision Research.

[16]  D. Wolpert,et al.  Sensorimotor attenuation by central motor command signals in the absence of movement , 2006, Nature Neuroscience.

[17]  P. Haggard,et al.  Noninformative vision improves the spatial resolution of touch in humans , 2001, Current Biology.

[18]  J. Hoffman,et al.  The role of visual attention in saccadic eye movements , 1995, Perception & psychophysics.

[19]  M. Farah,et al.  Parietal lobe mechanisms of spatial attention: Modality-specific or supramodal? , 1989, Neuropsychologia.

[20]  Francesco Pavani,et al.  Multisensory contributions to the 3-D representation of visuotactile peripersonal space in humans: evidence from the crossmodal congruency task , 2004, Journal of Physiology-Paris.

[21]  M. Mann,et al.  Directed Proteomic Analysis of the Human Nucleolus , 2002, Current Biology.

[22]  Chris Rorden,et al.  Enhanced Tactile Performance at the Destination of an Upcoming Saccade , 2002, Current Biology.

[23]  G. Rizzolatti,et al.  The organization of the cortical motor system: new concepts. , 1998, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[24]  B. Dosher,et al.  The role of attention in the programming of saccades , 1995, Vision Research.

[25]  Ming C. Lin,et al.  Haptic Rendering : Foundations, Algorithms, and Applications , 2008 .

[26]  M S Graziano,et al.  A System of Multimodal Areas in the Primate Brain , 2001, Neuron.

[27]  D. Wolpert,et al.  Perception of the Consequences of Self-Action Is Temporally Tuned and Event Driven , 2005, Current Biology.

[28]  H. Deubel,et al.  Selective Dorsal and Ventral Processing: Evidence for a Common Attentional Mechanism in Reaching and Perception , 1998 .

[29]  C. Spence,et al.  Crossmodal Space and Crossmodal Attention , 2004 .

[30]  S. Tipper,et al.  Vision influences tactile perception without proprioceptive orienting , 1998, Neuroreport.

[31]  D. Wolpert,et al.  Spatio-Temporal Prediction Modulates the Perception of Self-Produced Stimuli , 1999, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[32]  Yale E. Cohen amp Andersen,et al.  Multimodal spatial representations in the primate parietal lobe , 2004 .

[33]  J M Groh,et al.  Saccades to somatosensory targets. III. eye-position-dependent somatosensory activity in primate superior colliculus. , 1996, Journal of neurophysiology.

[34]  C. Spence,et al.  Crossmodal links between vision and touch in covert endogenous spatial attention. , 2000, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[35]  C. Colby.  Action-Oriented Spatial Reference Frames in Cortex , 1998, Neuron.

[36]  Jason B. Mattingley,et al.  Modality-Specific Control of Strategic Spatial Attention in Parietal Cortex , 2004, Neuron.

[37]  D. Wolpert,et al.  Two Eyes for an Eye: The Neuroscience of Force Escalation , 2003, Science.

[38]  M. Eimer,et al.  Links between eye movement preparation and the attentional processing of tactile events: An event-related brain potential study , 2008, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[39]  Hans Colonius,et al.  Visual-tactile spatial interaction in saccade generation , 2003, Experimental Brain Research.