Citation

Frank TD. J. Integr. Neurosci. 2015; 15(1): 67-79.

Affiliation

1 Center for the Ecological Study of Perception and Action Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut 406 Babbidge Road, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Imperial College Press)

DOI

10.1142/S0219635216500059

PMID

26678820

Abstract

Two experiments are reported in which participants perceived different physical quantities: size and speed. The perceptual tasks were performed in the context of motor performance problems. Participants perceived the size of objects in order to grasp the objects single handed or with both hands. Likewise, participants perceived the speed of a moving treadmill in order to control walking or running at that speed. In both experiments, the perceptual tasks were repeatedly performed by the participants while the to-be-perceived quantity was gradually varied from small to large objects (Experiment 1) and from low to high speeds (Experiment 2). Hysteresis with negative sign was found when participants were not allowed to execute the motor component, that is, when the execution stage was decoupled from the planning stage. No such effect was found in the control condition, when participants were allowed to execute the motor action. Using a Lotka-Volterra-Haken model for two competing neural populations, it is argued that the observations are consistent with the notion that the repetitions induce an adaptation effect of the perceptual system via top-down regulation. Moreover, the amount of synaptic modulation involved in the adaptation is estimated from participant data.

Language: en