From ear to hand: the role of the auditory-motor loop in pointing to an auditory source

Boyer, Eric; Babayan, Bénédicte M.; Bevilacqua, Frédéric; Noisternig, Markus; Warusfel, Olivier; Roby-Brami, Agnès; Hanneton, Sylvain; Viaud‐Delmon, Isabelle

doi:10.3389/fncom.2013.00026

Cited by 35 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…More recently, the role of sensorimotor calibration of audition emerges as very significant (Aytekin et al, 2008; Boyer et al, 2013; Carlile and Blackman, 2013; Carlile et al, 2014). Here we provide data attesting that when humans can use sensorimotor information, their spatial map of an auditory space is very accurate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From ear to body: the auditory-motor loop in spatial cognition

Viaud‐Delmon

Warusfel

2014

Front. Neurosci.

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Spatial memory is mainly studied through the visual sensory modality: navigation tasks in humans rarely integrate dynamic and spatial auditory information. In order to study how a spatial scene can be memorized on the basis of auditory and idiothetic cues only, we constructed an auditory equivalent of the Morris water maze, a task widely used to assess spatial learning and memory in rodents. Participants were equipped with wireless headphones, which delivered a soundscape updated in real time according to their movements in 3D space. A wireless tracking system (video infrared with passive markers) was used to send the coordinates of the subject's head to the sound rendering system. The rendering system used advanced HRTF-based synthesis of directional cues and room acoustic simulation for the auralization of a realistic acoustic environment. Participants were guided blindfolded in an experimental room. Their task was to explore a delimitated area in order to find a hidden auditory target, i.e., a sound that was only triggered when walking on a precise location of the area. The position of this target could be coded in relationship to auditory landmarks constantly rendered during the exploration of the area. The task was composed of a practice trial, 6 acquisition trials during which they had to memorize the localization of the target, and 4 test trials in which some aspects of the auditory scene were modified. The task ended with a probe trial in which the auditory target was removed. The configuration of searching paths allowed observing how auditory information was coded to memorize the position of the target. They suggested that space can be efficiently coded without visual information in normal sighted subjects. In conclusion, space representation can be based on sensorimotor and auditory cues only, providing another argument in favor of the hypothesis that the brain has access to a modality-invariant representation of external space.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From ear to body: the auditory-motor loop in spatial cognition

Viaud‐Delmon

Warusfel

2014

Front. Neurosci.

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“…As instruction, the target was also presented here for 0.25 s. Reaching performance in this condition did not differ from that of the two conditions without any feedback. When this feedback was shifted 18.5 • left from the real hand position, reaching performance was worse than in the condition without any feedback and a target presentation of two seconds [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Not only visual and proprioceptive, but also auditory information can be used to guide arm movements [4,5]. Boyer et al [6] completed a reaching study with merely acoustically coded artificial targets in the transverse plane with blindfolded participants. Directional information was given by stereo headphones reconstructing the sound pressure of a sound source at a given position in the transverse plane.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The results of Küssner et al [49], who studied the relations between musical parameters and intuitive gestures and found a positive correlation between pitch and height, also supported the choice of this mapping. The horizontal coding by stereo characteristics conformed to that applied by Boyer et al [6]. The spatial depth was mapped on spectral composition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Auditory Coding of Reaching Space

et al. 2020

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Reaching movements are usually initiated by visual events and controlled visually and kinesthetically. Lately, studies have focused on the possible benefit of auditory information for localization tasks, and also for movement control. This explorative study aimed to investigate if it is possible to code reaching space purely by auditory information. Therefore, the precision of reaching movements to merely acoustically coded target positions was analyzed. We studied the efficacy of acoustically effect-based and of additional acoustically performance-based instruction and feedback and the role of visual movement control. Twenty-four participants executed reaching movements to merely acoustically presented, invisible target positions in three mutually perpendicular planes in front of them. Effector-endpoint trajectories were tracked using inertial sensors. Kinematic data regarding the three spatial dimensions and the movement velocity were sonified. Thus, acoustic instruction and real-time feedback of the movement trajectories and the target position of the hand were provided. The subjects were able to align their reaching movements to the merely acoustically instructed targets. Reaching space can be coded merely acoustically, additional visual movement control does not enhance reaching performance. On the basis of these results, a remarkable benefit of kinematic movement acoustics for the neuromotor rehabilitation of everyday motor skills can be assumed.

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“…This movement variability usually becomes smaller with increasing age and approaches adult performance around and after puberty, suggesting a fine-tuning of sensorimotor feedforward models over time. Under most circumstances, goal-directed upper limb movements likely depend most on vision and proprioception, but audition can come into play as well (Boyer et al 2013). It has been known for some time that the availability of vision together with proprioception allows the system to code initial hand position more accurately than would be possible with one modality only (Elliott et al 1991; Rossetti et al 1994) and reduce variability during pointing movements (Desmurget et al 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of kinesthetic-motor and auditory-motor representations in school-aged children

Kagerer

Clark

2015

Exp Brain Res

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In two experiments using a center-out task, we investigated kinesthetic-motor and auditory-motor integrations in 5- to 12-year-old children and young adults. In experiment 1, participants moved a pen on a digitizing tablet from a starting position to one of three targets (visuo-motor condition), and then to one of four targets without visual feedback of the movement. In both conditions, we found that with increasing age, the children moved faster and straighter, and became less variable in their feedforward control. Higher control demands for movements toward the contralateral side were reflected in longer movement times and decreased spatial accuracy across all age groups. When feedforward control relies predominantly on kinesthesia, 7- to 10-year-old children were more variable, indicating difficulties in switching between feedforward and feedback control efficiently during that age. An inverse age progression was found for directional endpoint error; larger errors increasing with age likely reflect stronger functional lateralization for the dominant hand. In experiment 2, the same visuo-motor condition was followed by an auditory-motor condition in which participants had to move to acoustic targets (either white band or one-third octave noise). Since in the latter directional cues come exclusively from transcallosally mediated interaural time differences, we hypothesized that auditory-motor representations would show age effects. The results did not show a clear age effect, suggesting that corpus callosum functionality is sufficient in children to allow them to form accurate auditory-motor maps already at a young age.

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From ear to hand: the role of the auditory-motor loop in pointing to an auditory source

Cited by 35 publications

References 19 publications

From ear to body: the auditory-motor loop in spatial cognition

From ear to body: the auditory-motor loop in spatial cognition

Auditory Coding of Reaching Space

Development of kinesthetic-motor and auditory-motor representations in school-aged children

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