Voluntary movement affects simultaneous perception of auditory and tactile stimuli presented to a non-moving body part

Abstract

The simultaneous perception of multimodal sensory information has a crucial role for effective reactions to the external environment. Voluntary movements are known to occasionally affect simultaneous perception of auditory and tactile stimuli presented to the moving body part. However, little is known about spatial limits on the effect of voluntary movements on simultaneous perception, especially when tactile stimuli are presented to a non-moving body part. We examined the effect of voluntary movement on the simultaneous perception of auditory and tactile stimuli presented to the non-moving body part. We considered the possible mechanism using a temporal order judgement task under three experimental conditions: voluntary movement, where participants voluntarily moved their right index finger and judged the temporal order of auditory and tactile stimuli presented to their non-moving left index finger; passive movement; and no movement. During voluntary movement, the auditory stimulus needed to be presented before the tactile stimulus so that they were perceived as occurring simultaneously. This subjective simultaneity differed significantly from the passive movement and no movement conditions. This finding indicates that the effect of voluntary movement on simultaneous perception of auditory and tactile stimuli extends to the non-moving body part.

Auditory-Somatosensory Temporal Sensitivity Improves When the Somatosensory Event Is Caused by Voluntary Body Movement

“…They compared the effects of voluntary and involuntary movements on multisensory temporal sensitivity, but the findings are not consistent even among the studies from the same laboratory. Although no significant differences in JNDs for the temporal disparity of auditory-somatosensory events between the voluntary and involuntary movement conditions have been reported (Frissen et al, 2012; Hao et al, 2015), improvement (Nishi et al, 2014) and even deterioration (Hao et al, 2016) of the JNDs has also been observed in the voluntary movement condition compared to passive and involuntary ones. The reason for this inconsistency between the findings of the previous studies is unclear.…”

“…More recent studies have tried to further assess the effects of voluntary movements on multisensory temporal perception by introducing an involuntary movement condition in which the participants’ arm or finger is moved passively by a device (Frissen et al, 2012; Nishi et al, 2014; Hao et al, 2015, 2016). They compared the effects of voluntary and involuntary movements on multisensory temporal sensitivity, but the findings are not consistent even among the studies from the same laboratory.…”

Altered Functional Connectivity in the Resting State Neostriatum After Complete Sleep Deprivation: Impairment of Motor Control and Regulatory Network

“…Accidents are associated not only with psychocognitive decline but also with impaired fine motor control. Fine motor control is a high-level cognitive function of humans, which belongs to the category of voluntary movement, and occurs throughout the whole process of human daily life and social activities, such as reading, writing, speech, working, and some sports (Stippich et al, 2007;Bracci et al, 2012;Hao et al, 2016). Because fine movement is very important in daily life, much research has been conducted in the field of cognitive neuroscience, applying anatomical, physiological, and molecular biological methods to study voluntary movement and the mechanisms that govern it.…”