Prediction in goal-directed action

Abstract

Prediction allows humans and other animals to prepare for future interactions with their environment. This is important in our dynamically changing world that requires fast and accurate reactions to external events. Knowing when and where an event is likely to occur allows us to plan eye, hand, and body movements that are suitable for the circumstances. Predicting the sensory consequences of such movements helps to differentiate between self-produced and externally generated movements. In this review, we provide a selective overview of experimental studies on predictive mechanisms in human vision for action. We present classic paradigms and novel approaches investigating mechanisms that underlie the prediction of events guiding eye and hand movements.

Action enhances predicted touch

“…The findings are harder to reconcile with the prominent downweighting theories from action (Blakemore et al, 1998;Fiehler et al, 2019;Kilteni & Ehrsson, 2017), which propose that expected action outcomes are perceptually attenuated. As already outlined, it has been previously argued that a neural mechanism operating in the manner outlined in attenuation theorieswhere the prediction is subtracted from the inputis inconsistent with prominent predictive coding theories of perception (Brown et al, 2013).…”

On the relation between anticipatory ocular torsion and anticipatory smooth pursuit

“…Yet, in comparison with anticipatory horizontal pursuit, anticipatory torsion does not seem to be under much cognitive control. Anticipatory smooth pursuit is commonly associated with activity in frontal brain areas, such as the frontal eye fields (Macavoy, Gottlieb, & Bruce, 1991;Fukushima, Yamanobe, Shinmei, & Fukushima, 2002), and in particular with the supplementary eye fields (Heinen & Liu, 1997;Missal & Heinen, 2004;Kim, Badler, & Heinen, 2005). However, there is no direct evidence that signals from these frontal cortical brain areas directly mediate the descending signals to the brainstem and cerebellum that are well-known to guide ocular torsion.…”

“…Anticipatory smooth pursuit eye movements generally occur when target motion is predictable. Such predictions can be based on strong expectations of an upcoming motion direction (Fiehler, Brenner, & Spering, 2019). At the lowest processing level, these could be induced by repeatedly showing the same kind of stimulus, such as when trials with rightward and leftward target motion are grouped into separate blocks.…”

Introduction to special issue on “Prediction in Perception and Action”

“…There were similarities in the sense of agency across temporal, spatial, and anatomical manipulations, indicating joint processing of the sense of agency across different sensorimotor aspects. The review by Fiehler, Brenner, and Spering (2019) further discusses the implications of sensory attenuations of predicted movement consequences, how they are linked to task demands, and the processing of such signals.…”

“…Both smooth pursuit and saccadic eye movements reveal predictions of the future visual stimulus in both laboratory and real-world contexts (see review in Kowler, 2014;Diaz et al, 2013). In this issue, Fiehler et al (2019) review the role of prediction in goal-directed movements. This review covers classic paradigms and novel approaches investigating predictions in the planning of eye and hand movements and touches on many of the other aspects of visual prediction introduced here.…”