Understanding Motion Control of the Body Using Optimal Feedback Control

When reaching for an earth-fixed object during self-rotation, the motor system should appropriately integrate vestibular signals and sensory predictions to compensate for the intervening motion and its induced inertial forces. While it is well established that this integration occurs rapidly, it is unknown whether vestibular feedback is specifically processed dependent on the behavioral goal. Here, we studied whether vestibular signals evoke fixed responses with the aim to preserve the hand trajectory in space or are processed more flexibly, correcting trajectories only in task-relevant spatial dimensions. We used galvanic vestibular stimulation to perturb reaching movements toward a narrow or a wide target. Results show that the same vestibular stimulation led to smaller trajectory corrections to the wide than the narrow target. We interpret this reduced compensation as a task-dependent modulation of vestibular feedback responses, tuned to minimally intervene with the task-irrelevant dimension of the reach. These task-dependent vestibular feedback corrections are in accordance with a central prediction of optimal feedback control theory and mirror the sophistication seen in feedback responses to mechanical and visual perturbations of the upper limb. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Correcting limb movements for external perturbations is a hallmark of flexible sensorimotor behavior. While visual and mechanical perturbations are corrected in a task-dependent manner, it is unclear whether a vestibular perturbation, naturally arising when the body moves, is selectively processed in reach control. We show, using galvanic vestibular stimulation, that reach corrections to vestibular perturbations are task dependent, consistent with a prediction of optimal feedback control theory.

Download Full-text

Vestibular modulation of visuomotor feedback gains in reaching

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00616.2018 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 122 (3) ◽

pp. 947-957 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Leonie Oostwoud Wijdenes ◽

Robert J. van Beers ◽

W. Pieter Medendorp

Keyword(s):

Feedback Control ◽

The Body ◽

Body Motion ◽

Time Dependent ◽

Reaching Movements ◽

Optimal Feedback Control ◽

Optimal Feedback ◽

Vestibular Information ◽

The World ◽

Full Body

Humans quickly and sophisticatedly correct their movements in response to changes in the world, such as when reaching to a target that abruptly changes its location. The vigor of these movement corrections is time-dependent, increasing if the time left to make the correction decreases, which can be explained by optimal feedback control (OFC) theory as an increase of optimal feedback gains. It is unknown whether corrections for changes in the world are as sophisticated under full-body motion. For successful visually probed motor corrections during full-body motion, not only the motion of the hand relative to the body needs to be taken into account, but also the motion of the hand in the world should be considered, because their relative positions are changing. Here, in two experiments, we show that visuomotor feedback corrections in response to target jumps are more vigorous for faster passive full-body translational acceleration than for slower acceleration, suggesting that vestibular information modulates visuomotor feedback gains. Interestingly, these corrections do not demonstrate the time-dependent characteristics that body-stationary visuomotor feedback gains typically show, such that an optimal feedback control model fell short to explain them. We further show that the vigor of corrections generally decreased over the course of trials within the experiment, suggesting that the sensorimotor system adjusted its gains when learning to integrate the vestibular input into hand motor control. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Vestibular information is used in the control of reaching movements to world-stationary visual targets, while the body moves. Here, we show that vestibular information also modulates the corrective reach responses when the target changes position during the body motion: visuomotor feedback gains increase for faster body acceleration. Our results suggest that vestibular information is integrated into fast visuomotor control of reaching movements.

Download Full-text

THE OPTIMAL FEEDBACK CONTROL OF LINEAR SYSTEMS WITH NON-CHEAP CONTROL

Acta Mathematica Scientia ◽

10.1016/s0252-9602(18)30600-3 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 171-182

Author(s):

Qingkai Ye

Keyword(s):

Feedback Control ◽

Linear Systems ◽

Optimal Feedback Control ◽

Optimal Feedback ◽

Cheap Control ◽

Control Of Linear Systems

Download Full-text

COMBINING SENSORIMOTOR TRANSFORMATIONS AND OPTIMAL FEEDBACK CONTROL TO EXPLAIN MOTOR RESPONSES TO VISUAL PERTURBATIONS – A COMPUTATIONAL STUDY

Anais do V Congresso Brasileiro de Eletromiografia e Cinesiologia e X Simpósio de Engenharia Biomédica ◽

10.29327/cobecseb.79107 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

A. Nakagawa-Silva ◽

A. B. Soares

Keyword(s):

Feedback Control ◽

Computational Study ◽

Optimal Feedback Control ◽

Motor Responses ◽

Optimal Feedback ◽

Sensorimotor Transformations

Download Full-text

Tips on Stochastic Optimal Feedback Control and Bayesian Spatiotemporal Models: Applications to Robotics

Journal of Dynamic Systems Measurement and Control ◽

10.1115/1.4028642 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 137 (3) ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Jongeun Choi ◽

Dejan Milutinović

Keyword(s):

Sensor Networks ◽

Feedback Control ◽

Control Theory ◽

Mobile Sensor Networks ◽

Optimal Feedback Control ◽

Mobile Sensor ◽

Optimal Feedback ◽

Spatiotemporal Models ◽

Feedback Control Theory

This tutorial paper presents the expositions of stochastic optimal feedback control theory and Bayesian spatiotemporal models in the context of robotics applications. The presented material is self-contained so that readers can grasp the most important concepts and acquire knowledge needed to jump-start their research. To facilitate this, we provide a series of educational examples from robotics and mobile sensor networks.

Download Full-text