Reaching for known unknowns: Rapid reach decisions accurately reflect the future state of dynamic probabilistic information

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan J. Wispinski ◽  
Scott A. Stone ◽  
Jennifer K. Bertrand ◽  
Alexandra A. Ouellette Zuk ◽  
Ewen B. Lavoie ◽  
...  

Everyday tasks such as catching a ball appear effortless, but in fact require complex interactions and tight temporal coordination between the brain’s visual and motor systems. What makes such interceptive actions particularly impressive is the capacity of the brain to account for temporal delays in the central nervous system—a limitation that can be mitigated by making predictions about the environment as well as one’s own actions. Here, we wanted to assess how well human participants can plan an upcoming movement based on a dynamic, predictable stimulus that is not the target of action. A central stationary or rotating stimulus determined the probability that each of two potential targets would be the eventual target of a rapid reach-to-touch movement. We examined the extent to which reach movement trajectories convey internal predictions about the future state of dynamic probabilistic information conveyed by the rotating stimulus. We show that movement trajectories reflect the target probabilities determined at movement onset, suggesting that humans rapidly and accurately integrate visuospatial predictions and estimates of their own reaction times to effectively guide action.

Cortex ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 138 ◽  
pp. 253-265
Author(s):  
Nathan J. Wispinski ◽  
Scott A. Stone ◽  
Jennifer K. Bertrand ◽  
Alexandra A. Ouellette Zuk ◽  
Ewen B. Lavoie ◽  
...  

1985 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Terry Hambrecht

ABSTRACTNeural prostheses which are commercially available include cochlear implants for treating certain forms of deafness and urinary bladder evacuation prostheses for individuals with spinal cord disorders. In the future we can anticipate improvements in bioelectrodes and biomaterials which should permit more sophisticated devices such as visual prostheses for the blind and auditory prostheses for the deaf based on microstimulation of the central nervous system.


CFA Magazine ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-7
Author(s):  
Ed McCarthy
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Konstantin Gulyabin

Mills' syndrome is a rare neurological disorder. Its nosological nature is currently not completely determined. Nevertheless, Mills' syndrome is considered to be a rare variant of the degenerative pathology of the central nervous system – a variant of focal cortical atrophy. The true prevalence of this pathology is unknown, since this condition is more often of a syndrome type, observed in the clinical picture of a number of neurological diseases (primary lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia, etc.) and is less common in isolated form.


2001 ◽  
Vol 66 (9) ◽  
pp. 1315-1340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir J. Balcar ◽  
Akiko Takamoto ◽  
Yukio Yoneda

The review highlights the landmark studies leading from the discovery and initial characterization of the Na+-dependent "high affinity" uptake in the mammalian brain to the cloning of individual transporters and the subsequent expansion of the field into the realm of molecular biology. When the data and hypotheses from 1970's are confronted with the recent developments in the field, we can conclude that the suggestions made nearly thirty years ago were essentially correct: the uptake, mediated by an active transport into neurons and glial cells, serves to control the extracellular concentrations of L-glutamate and prevents the neurotoxicity. The modern techniques of molecular biology may have provided additional data on the nature and location of the transporters but the classical neurochemical approach, using structural analogues of glutamate designed as specific inhibitors or substrates for glutamate transport, has been crucial for the investigations of particular roles that glutamate transport might play in health and disease. Analysis of recent structure/activity data presented in this review has yielded a novel insight into the pharmacological characteristics of L-glutamate transport, suggesting existence of additional heterogeneity in the system, beyond that so far discovered by molecular genetics. More compounds that specifically interact with individual glutamate transporters are urgently needed for more detailed investigations of neurochemical characteristics of glutamatergic transport and its integration into the glutamatergic synapses in the central nervous system. A review with 162 references.


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