Neural correlates of temporal recalibration to delayed auditory feedback of active and passive movements

Abstract

When we perform an action, its sensory outcomes usually follow shortly after. This characteristic temporal relationship aids in distinguishing self‐ from externally generated sensory input. To preserve this ability under dynamically changing environmental conditions, our expectation of the timing between action and outcome must be able to recalibrate, for example, when the outcome is consistently delayed. Until now, it remains unclear whether this process, known as sensorimotor temporal recalibration, can be specifically attributed to recalibration of sensorimotor (action‐outcome) predictions, or whether it may be partly due to the recalibration of expectations about the intersensory (e.g., audio‐tactile) timing. Therefore, we investigated the behavioral and neural correlates of temporal recalibration and differences in sensorimotor and intersensory contexts. During fMRI, subjects were exposed to delayed or undelayed tones elicited by actively or passively generated button presses. While recalibration of the expected intersensory timing (i.e., between the tactile sensation during the button movement and the tones) can be expected to occur during both active and passive movements, recalibration of sensorimotor predictions should be limited to active movement conditions. Effects of this procedure on auditory temporal perception and the modality‐transfer to visual perception were tested in a delay detection task. Across both contexts, we found recalibration to be associated with activations in hippocampus and cerebellum. Context‐dependent differences emerged in terms of stronger behavioral recalibration effects in sensorimotor conditions and were captured by differential activation pattern in frontal cortices, cerebellum, and sensory processing regions. These findings highlight the role of the hippocampus in encoding and retrieving newly acquired temporal stimulus associations during temporal recalibration. Furthermore, recalibration‐related activations in the cerebellum may reflect the retention of multiple representations of temporal stimulus associations across both contexts. Finally, we showed that sensorimotor predictions modulate recalibration‐related processes in frontal, cerebellar, and sensory regions, which potentially account for the perceptual advantage of sensorimotor versus intersensory temporal recalibration.

Temporal recalibration in response to delayed visual feedback of active versus passive actions: An fMRI study

“…This in uential effect, however, occurred in sensorimotor and purely inter-sensory recalibration, indicating a role of the cerebellum in both contexts 11 . This is in line with our ndings in delay detection tasks after auditory temporal recalibration 10 . Differential cerebellum activation, however, occurred for active compared to passive actions in the recalibration phases of the experiment 10 .…”

“…This is in line with our ndings in delay detection tasks after auditory temporal recalibration 10 . Differential cerebellum activation, however, occurred for active compared to passive actions in the recalibration phases of the experiment 10 . Furthermore, readiness potentials in the motor system and visual cortex were shown to shift in time due to visual temporal recalibration 8 .…”

“…The combination of a sensorimotor and an inter-sensory component should thereby lead to a more pronounced TRE than the inter-sensory component alone. This was already demonstrated as a greater TRE due to active opposed to externally generated actions 7,9,10 . The differential contributions of sensorimotor and intersensory components, however, are still largely unknown.…”

“…We expected the adaptation delay to have a signi cant impact on temporal perception, resembled by a worsening in delay detection performance after temporal recalibration. Based on the hypothesis that temporal recalibration using voluntary actions involves a sensorimotor component in addition to more general inter-sensory component we expected a greater TRE for active compared to passive button presses in within-modal conditions 7,10 . As for neural correlates, we expected regions thought to be associated with sensorimotor temporal recalibration and internal forward models, including the cerebellum, to be associated with recalibration in active conditions.…”

Dynamic changes in somatosensory and cerebellar activity mediate temporal recalibration of self-touch

“…In the domain of time, several earlier studies have injected delays between the movement and the associated visual/auditory/vestibular consequences and showed that participants adapt to delays by adjusting their movements and/or perceptual biases [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38] . Importantly, these effects become much smaller or negligible in the absence of movement 33,39 .…”