Role of motor execution in the ocular tracking of self-generated movements

Abstract

When human observers track the movements of their own hand with their gaze, the eyes can start moving before the finger (i.e., anticipatory smooth pursuit). The signals driving anticipation could come from motor commands during finger motor execution or from motor intention and decision processes associated with self-initiated movements. For the present study, we built a mechanical device that could move a visual target either in the same direction as the participant's hand or in the opposite direction. Gaze pursuit of the target showed stronger anticipation if it moved in the same direction as the hand compared with the opposite direction, as evidenced by decreased pursuit latency, increased positional lead of the eye relative to target, increased pursuit gain, decreased saccade rate, and decreased delay at the movement reversal. Some degree of anticipation occurred for incongruent pursuit, indicating that there is a role for higher-level movement prediction in pursuit anticipation. The fact that anticipation was larger when target and finger moved in the same direction provides evidence for a direct coupling between finger and eye motor commands.

Asymmetrical Relationship between Prediction and Control during Visuomotor Adaptation

“…2 B ). This task was designed to probe the ability to predict the visual consequences of one’s hand movement (Vercher et al, 1995; Chen et al, 2016; Danion et al, 2017). Participants were asked to generate random target movements so as to make target motion as unpredictable as possible (Steinbach and Held, 1968; Landelle et al, 2016; Mathew et al, 2017).…”

Prediction in goal-directed action

“…Interestingly, when participants were asked to observe two players throwing a ball back and forth instead of actively throwing and catching it themselves, predictive saccades were less accurate, and fewer periods of smooth pursuit were observed between bounce and catch (Hayhoe, Mennie, Sullivan, & Gorgos, 2005). Similarly, laboratory studies have shown that actively engaging in tasks such as manual tracking, catching, or pointing can enhance simultaneous pursuit eye movements (Chen, Valsecchi, & Gegenfurtner, 2016;Danion & Flanagan, 2018;Fooken, Lalonde, Mann, & Spering, 2018). Conversely, pursuing a ball seems to provide information about the ball's motion, which is important for predicting its trajectory (Bennett, Baures, Hecht, & Benguigui, 2010;Spering, Schütz, Braun, & Gegenfurtner, 2011) and for controlling the timing and accuracy of interceptive movements directed at the ball (Brenner & Smeets, 2011;de la Malla et al, 2016;de la Malla et al, 2017;Fooken, Yeo, Pai, & Spering, 2016;Leclercq, Blohm, & Lefèvre, 2013).…”

Handedness Matters for Motor Control But Not for Prediction

“…In previous studies investigating this task, only the right dominant hand was used (Vercher et al, 1993, 1996; Scarchilli and Vercher, 1999; Chen et al, 2016a; Landelle et al, 2016; Danion et al, 2017; Mathew et al, 2017, 2018) or no (or incomplete) information was provided regarding participants’ handedness or the hand used in the task (Steinbach and Held, 1968; Steinbach, 1969; Gauthier and Hofferer, 1976; Gauthier et al, 1988). To date, we are only aware of a single study in which dominant and non-dominant hands were used (Chen et al, 2016b), but the putative impact of handedness was not reported.…”