Human cortical dynamics during full-body heading changes

AbstractThe retrosplenial complex (RSC) plays a crucial role in spatial orientation by computing heading direction and translating between distinct spatial reference frames based on multi-sensory information. While invasive studies allow investigating heading computation in moving animals, established non-invasive analyses of human brain dynamics are restricted to stationary setups. To investigate the role of the RSC in heading computation of actively moving humans, we used a Mobile Brain/Body Imaging approach synchronizing electroencephalography with motion capture and virtual reality. Data from physically rotating participants were contrasted with rotations based only on visual flow. During physical rotation, varying rotation velocities were accompanied by pronounced wide frequency band synchronization in RSC, the parietal and occipital cortices. In contrast, the visual flow rotation condition was associated with pronounced alpha band desynchronization, replicating previous findings in desktop navigation studies, and notably absent during physical rotation. These results suggest an involvement of the human RSC in heading computation based on visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive input and implicate revisiting traditional findings of alpha desynchronization in areas of the navigation network during spatial orientation in movement-restricted participants.

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Heading computation in the human retrosplenial complex during full-body rotation

10.1101/417972 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Klaus Gramann ◽

Friederike U. Hohlefeld ◽

Lukas Gehrke ◽

Marius Klug

Keyword(s):

Spatial Orientation ◽

Reference Frames ◽

Activity Patterns ◽

Brain Structures ◽

Retrosplenial Cortex ◽

Visual Signals ◽

Thalamic Nuclei ◽

Spatial Reference Frames ◽

Visual Flow ◽

Heading Direction

SummaryThe retrosplenial complex (RSC) plays a crucial role in spatial orientation by computing heading direction and translating between distinct spatial reference frames. While invasive studies allow investigating heading computation in moving animals, established non-invasive analyses of human brain dynamics are restricted to stationary setups. To investigate the role of the RSC in heading computation of actively moving humans, we used a Mobile Brain/Body Imaging approach synchronizing electroencephalography with motion capture and virtual reality. Data from physically rotating participants were contrasted with rotations based only on visual flow. Varying rotation velocities were accompanied by pronounced beta synchronization during physical rotation. In addition, heading computation based only on visual flow replicated alpha desynchronization in the RSC, which was absent during physical rotation. These results suggest an involvement of the human RSC in heading computation based on vestibular input and implicate revisiting traditional findings of alpha desynchronization during spatial orientation in movement-restricted participants.Heading computation is fundamental for spatial orientation in the human and other species. The registration of moment-to-moment changes in orientation with respect to an allocentric reference direction provides information about an animal’s current heading relative to the environment. This is accomplished by the integration of vestibular, proprioceptive, and visual signals providing information about linear and angular velocity signals of the head, the relative position of the head with respect to the trunk, and information about stable aspects of the environment, respectively.1 Single cell recordings in freely behaving animals identified several brain structures involved in heading computation, including the retrosplenial cortex (RSC).2, 3 The RSC receives input from the visual system and from head direction cells in the thalamic nuclei.4 It also hosts subpopulations of heading-sensitive cells that are sentient to local features of the environment, while other cells exhibit mixed activity patterns related to both local and global heading computation.5 These findings suggest that neural activity in the RSC subserves the integration of information about the local and global environment, integrating egocentrically coded landmark cues based on sensory fusion (vision and proprioception)6 with allocentric heading information originating from the Papez circuit.7 This allows the compensation of the rotational offset between egocentric and allocentric spatial representations, routed from the parietal and medial temporal cortices, providing the necessary information for translating between both egocentric and allocentric spatial representational frames in the RSC.8

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Contribution of proprioception for calibrating and updating the motor space

Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology ◽

10.1139/y95-035 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 73 (2) ◽

pp. 246-254 ◽

Cited By ~ 53

Author(s):

Chantal Bard ◽

Michelle Fleury ◽

Normand Teasdale ◽

Jacques Paillard ◽

Vincent Nougier

Keyword(s):

Reference Frames ◽

Sensory Information ◽

Force Production ◽

Movement Control ◽

Spatial Reference Frames ◽

Proprioceptive Afferents ◽

The Brain ◽

Prismatic Adaptation ◽

Central Level

The absence of muscular proprioception, whether at a segmental or at a central level, impairs performance in several ways. The contribution of proprioception to movement control and learning is not easily dissociated from that of other sources of sensory information (e.g., vision). Therefore, the rare clinical cases of extensive neuropathy, depriving the brain massively and permanently of its presumed main sources of dynamogenic information from skin and muscles, are of very special interest. Two such patients and controls were tested in experiments investigating (i) force production, (ii) amplitude coding, (iii) spatial reference frames in pointing, and (iv) prismatic adaptation. Overall, our results highlight the key role of proprioceptive afferents for calibrating the spatial motor frame of reference, and the powerful substitutive properties of the central nervous system.Key words: proprioception, deafferentation, space calibration, motor control.

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Development of human spatial cognition in a three-dimensional world

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x13000459 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 36 (5) ◽

pp. 556-556

Author(s):

Kate A. Longstaffe ◽

Bruce M. Hood ◽

Iain D. Gilchrist

Keyword(s):

Spatial Cognition ◽

Reference Frames ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Typically Developing Children ◽

Spatial Reference ◽

Spatial Reference Frames

AbstractJeffery et al. accurately identify the importance of developing an understanding of spatial reference frames in a three-dimensional world. We examine human spatial cognition via a unique paradigm that investigates the role of saliency and adjusting reference frames. This includes work with adults, typically developing children, and children who develop non-typically (e.g., those with autism).

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The Role of Spatial Reference Frames in Architecture

Environment and Behavior ◽

10.1177/0013916503254829 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 36 (4) ◽

pp. 461-482 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Steffen Werner ◽

Laura E. Schindler

Keyword(s):

Reference Frames ◽

Spatial Reference ◽

Spatial Reference Frames

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Interneuron subtypes enable independent modulation of excitatory and inhibitory firing rates after sensory deprivation

10.1101/2021.05.25.445562 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Leonidas M. A. Richter ◽

Julijana Gjorgjieva

Keyword(s):

Sensory Deprivation ◽

Sensory Information ◽

Mechanistic Explanation ◽

Monocular Deprivation ◽

Recurrent Networks ◽

Cortical Circuits ◽

Cortical Dynamics ◽

Sensory Cortices ◽

Synaptic Changes

Diverse interneuron subtypes determine how cortical circuits process sensory information depending on their connectivity. Sensory deprivation experiments are ideally suited to unravel the plasticity mechanisms which shape circuit connectivity, but have yet to consider the role of different inhibitory subtypes. We investigate how synaptic changes due to monocular deprivation affect the firing rate dynamics in a microcircuit network model of the visual cortex. We demonstrate that, in highly recurrent networks, deprivation-induced plasticity generates fundamentally different activity changes depending on interneuron composition. Considering parvalbumin-positive (PV+) and somatostatin-positive (SST+) interneuron subtypes can capture the experimentally observed independent modulation of excitatory and inhibitory activity during sensory deprivation when SST+ feedback is sufficiently strong. Our model also applies to whisker deprivation in the somatosensory cortex revealing that these mechanisms are general across sensory cortices. Therefore, we provide a mechanistic explanation for the differential role of interneuron subtypes in regulating cortical dynamics during deprivation-induced plasticity.

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A Spatial and Perspective Change Theory of the Difference Between Sympathy and Empathy

Paragrana ◽

10.1524/para.2010.0003 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

pp. 32-61 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Alain Berthoz ◽

Bérangère Thirioux

Keyword(s):

Reference Frames ◽

Point Of View ◽

Philosophical Tradition ◽

Primary Role ◽

Spatial Reference Frames ◽

Perspective Change ◽

Tight Rope ◽

The Difference ◽

And Gender

AbstractEmpathy is a multicomponent faculty of the human brain which is funda-mental for social interactions.Understanding its behavioural, cognitive, emotional neural mechanisms and pathology is a major interdisciplinary challenge..Here we propose, in relation with a modern conception of the Philosophical tradition of Phenomenology and a primary role of cognitive embodiement, a new theory in which we give an important although not exclusive, role to the brain mechanisms which also are involved in spatial cognition: we show, that there is a basic difference between *sympathy* and *empathy*. Whether sympathy is akin to emotional contagion and does not require the siubject to adopt the point of view of others, empathy requires a dynamic and complex manipulation of spatial reference frames. We give an example of an experiment using virtual reality in which a subject interacts with an artificial tight rope walker and discuss also the possible interindividual differences, and gender differences, in the different strategies used by subjects to have an empathic relationship.

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The First-Perspective Alignment Effect: The Role of Environmental Complexity and Familiarity with Surroundings

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1080/17470218.2011.586710 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 64 (11) ◽

pp. 2236-2250 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Michael Tlauka ◽

Pelham Carter ◽

Tim Mahlberg ◽

Paul N. Wilson

Keyword(s):

Reference Frames ◽

Complex Environments ◽

Environmental Complexity ◽

Desktop Computer ◽

Alignment Effect ◽

Spatial Reference Frames ◽

Previous Account ◽

Surrounding Space ◽

Effect Experiment

People often remember relatively novel environments from the first perspective encountered or the first direction of travel. This initial perspective can determine a preferred orientation that facilitates the efficiency of spatial judgements at multiple recalled locations. The present study examined this “first-perspective alignment effect” (FPA effect). In three experiments, university students explored three-path routes through computer-simulated spaces presented on a desktop computer screen. Spatial memory was then tested employing a “judgement of relative direction” task. Contrary to the predictions of a previous account, Experiment 1 found a reliable FPA effect in barren and complex environments. Experiment 2 strongly implicated the importance of complete novelty of the space surrounding the route in producing the effect. Experiment 3 found that, while familiarity with the surrounding space greatly attenuated the FPA effect with immediate testing, the effect reemerged following a 7-day delay to testing. The implications for the encoding and retrieval of spatial reference frames are discussed.

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Reference frames in the decisions of hand choice

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00738.2017 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 119 (5) ◽

pp. 1809-1817 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Romy S. Bakker ◽

Luc P. J. Selen ◽

W. Pieter Medendorp

Keyword(s):

Reference Frames ◽

Task Demands ◽

The Body ◽

Selection Task ◽

Reaching Movements ◽

Head Orientation ◽

Adaptive Procedure ◽

Spatial Reference Frames ◽

Target Angle

For the brain to decide on a reaching movement, it needs to select which hand to use. A number of body-centered factors affect this decision, such as the anticipated movement costs of each arm, recent choice success, handedness, and task demands. While the position of each hand relative to the target is also known to be an important spatial factor, it is unclear which reference frames coordinate the spatial aspects in the decisions of hand choice. Here we tested the role of gaze- and head-centered reference frames in a hand selection task. With their head and gaze oriented in different directions, we measured hand choice of 19 right-handed subjects instructed to make unimanual reaching movements to targets at various directions relative to their body. Using an adaptive procedure, we determined the target angle that led to equiprobable right/left hand choices. When gaze remained fixed relative to the body this balanced target angle shifted systematically with head orientation, and when head orientation remained fixed this choice measure shifted with gaze. These results suggest that a mixture of head- and gaze-centered reference frames is involved in the spatially guided decisions of hand choice, perhaps to flexibly bind this process to the mechanisms of target selection. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Decisions of target and hand choice are fundamental aspects of human reaching movements. While the reference frames involved in target choice have been identified, it is unclear which reference frames are involved in hand selection. We tested the role of gaze- and head-centered reference frames in a hand selection task. Findings emphasize the role of both spatial reference frames in the decisions of hand choice, in addition to known body-centered computations such anticipated movement costs and handedness.

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