Effects of spatial consistency and individual difference on touch-induced visual suppression effect.

Crossmodal studies have reported not only facilitatory but also inhibitory perceptual interactions. For instance, tactile stimulation to the index finger of a hand leads to the degradation of visual discrimination performance (touch-induced visual suppression, TIVS). It has been suggested that the magnitude of TIVS depends on the spatial congruency of visuo-tactile stimuli and on individual differences in task performance.

Higher Tactile Temporal Resolution as a Basis of Hypersensitivity in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have symptoms of sensory hypersensitivity. Several studies have shown high individual variations in temporal processing of tactile stimuli. We hypothesized that these individual differences are linked to differences in hyper-reactivity among individuals with ASD.

Comparison of Four Control Methods for a Five-Choice Assistive Technology.

Severe motor impairments can affect the ability to communicate. The ability to see has a decisive influence on the augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems available to the user. To better understand the initial impressions users have of AAC systems we asked naïve healthy participants to compare two visual (a visual P300 brain-computer interface (BCI) and an eye-tracker) and two non-visual systems (an auditory and a tactile P300 BCI).

Body ownership and agency altered by an electromyographically controlled robotic arm.

Understanding how we consciously experience our bodies is a fundamental issue in cognitive neuroscience. Two fundamental components of this are the sense of body ownership (the experience of the body as one's own) and the sense of agency (the feeling of control over one's bodily actions). These constructs have been used to investigate the incorporation of prostheses.

Corticospinal Excitability Is Modulated as a Function of Postural Perturbation Predictability.

Recent studies demonstrated that the corticospinal pathway is one of the key nodes for the feedback control of human standing and that the excitability is flexibly changed according to the current state of posture. However, it has been unclear whether this pathway is also involved in a predictive control of human standing. Here, we investigated whether the corticospinal excitability of the soleus (SOL) and tibialis anterior (TA) muscles during standing would be modulated anticipatorily when perturbation was impending.

Operation of a P300-based brain-computer interface in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

A brain-computer interface (BCI) or brain-machine interface is a technology that enables the control of a computer and other external devices using signals from the brain. This technology has been tested in paralysed patients, such as those with cervical spinal cord injuries or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, but it has not been tested systematically in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), which is a severe type of muscular dystrophy due to the loss of dystrophin and is often accompanied by progressive muscle weakness and wasting. Here, we investigated the efficacy of a P300-based BCI for patients with DMD.

Short-term effects of electrical nerve stimulation on spinal reciprocal inhibition depend on gait phase during passive stepping.

A combination of electrical nerve stimulation (ENS) and passive or active cyclic movements (i.e., pedaling and stepping) has been suggested to induce stronger short-term effects in spinal circuits as compared to either intervention alone.

[Hypersensitivity as Extraordinary High Temporal Processing in Individuals with Autism-Spectrum Disorders].

Most individuals with autism-spectrum disorders have hypersensitivity/hyposensitivity to various types of sensory stimuli. Although several hypotheses such as higher sensitivity to stimuli, alterations in brain structure and function, and dysfunction of inhibitory systems at the molecular level have been suggested, there is no convincing evidence. We found that individuals with high temporal resolution tended to have strong hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli and vice versa.

Incorporation of prosthetic limbs into the body representation of amputees: Evidence from the crossed hands temporal order illusion.

Understanding how we consciously experience our bodies is a fundamental issue in both psychology and neuroscience. To date, the incorporation of nonbody objects into the body representation has been investigated extensively, and the incorporation of prosthetic arms in amputees has been demonstrated using the rubber hand illusion. In this study, we investigated the incorporation of prosthetic arms in amputees using the crossed hands illusion, in which successive somatosensory stimuli are delivered, one to each arm, at intervals of 300ms or less, and where arm crossing often causes inversion of perceived tactile temporal order.

Optimal feedback control to describe multiple representations of primary motor cortex neurons.

Primary motor cortex (M1) neurons are tuned in response to several parameters related to motor control, and it was recently reported that M1 is important in feedback control. However, it remains unclear how M1 neurons encode information to control the musculoskeletal system. In this study, we examined the underlying computational mechanisms of M1 based on optimal feedback control (OFC) theory, which is a plausible hypothesis for neuromotor control.

Goal attribution to inanimate moving objects by Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata).

Humans interpret others' goals based on motion information, and this capacity contributes to our mental reasoning. The present study sought to determine whether Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) perceive goal-directedness in chasing events depicted by two geometric particles. In Experiment 1, two monkeys and adult humans were trained to discriminate between Chasing and Random sequences.

Neural mechanisms underlying touch-induced visual perceptual suppression: An fMRI study.

Crossmodal studies have demonstrated inhibitory as well as facilitatory neural effects in higher sensory association and primary sensory cortices. A recent human behavioral study reported touch-induced visual perceptual suppression (TIVS). Here, we introduced an experimental setting in which TIVS could occur and investigated brain activities underlying visuo-tactile interactions using a functional magnetic resonance imaging technique.

The Rubber Tail Illusion as Evidence of Body Ownership in Mice.

Unlabelled: The ownership of one's body parts represents a fundamental aspect of self-consciousness. Accumulating empirical evidence supports the existence of this concept in humans and nonhuman primates, but it is unclear whether nonprimate mammals experience similar feelings. Therefore, the present study used rubber tails to investigate body ownership in rodents.

An Evaluation of Training with an Auditory P300 Brain-Computer Interface for the Japanese Hiragana Syllabary.

Gaze-independent brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are a possible communication channel for persons with paralysis. We investigated if it is possible to use auditory stimuli to create a BCI for the Japanese Hiragana syllabary, which has 46 Hiragana characters. Additionally, we investigated if training has an effect on accuracy despite the high amount of different stimuli involved.

Intentional gaze shift to neglected space: a compensatory strategy during recovery after unilateral spatial neglect.

Unilateral spatial neglect is a common neurological syndrome following predominantly right hemispheric stroke. While most patients lack insight into their neglect behaviour and do not initiate compensatory behaviours in the early recovery phase, some patients recognize it and start to pay attention towards the neglected space. We aimed to characterize visual attention capacity in patients with unilateral spatial neglect with specific focus on cortical processes underlying compensatory gaze shift towards the neglected space during the recovery process.

Periodic Visuotactile Stimulation Slowly Enhances the Rubber Hand Illusion in Individuals with High Autistic Traits.

In a rubber hand illusion (RHI) task, synchronous brush stroking of a rubber hand and a participant's hidden hand induces body ownership of the rubber hand. The effects of spatial distances and temporal lags on the RHI have been extensively examined; however, the effect of periodicity of the stimuli on illusory body ownership has not been examined. Meanwhile, the occurrence of RHI tends to be weak in individuals with autism-spectrum disorders (ASD) and high autistic traits.

Arm crossing updates brain functional connectivity of the left posterior parietal cortex.

The unusual configuration of body parts can cause illusions. For example, when tactile stimuli are delivered to crossed arms a reversal of subjective temporal ordering occurs. Our group has previously demonstrated that arm crossing without sensory stimuli causes activity changes in the left posterior parietal cortex (PPC) and an assessment of tactile temporal order judgments (TOJs) revealed a positive association between activity in this area, especially the left intraparietal sulcus (IPS), and the degree of the crossed-hand illusion.

Action Congruency Influences Crowding When Discriminating Biological Motion Direction.

Identification and discrimination of peripheral stimuli are often difficult when a few stimuli adjacent to the target are present (crowding). Our previous study showed that crowding occurs for walking direction discrimination of a biological motion stimulus. In the present study, we attempted to examine whether action congruency between the target and flankers would influence the crowding effect on biological motion stimuli.

Temporal, but not Directional, Prior Knowledge Shortens Muscle Reflex Latency in Response to Sudden Transition of Support Surface During Walking.

The central nervous system takes advantage of prior knowledge about potential upcoming perturbations for modulating postural reflexes. There are two distinct aspects of prior knowledge: spatial and temporal. This study investigated how each of spatial and temporal prior knowledge contributes to the shortening of muscle response latency.

A Bayesian Model of the Uncanny Valley Effect for Explaining the Effects of Therapeutic Robots in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

One of the core features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is impaired reciprocal social interaction, especially in processing emotional information. Social robots are used to encourage children with ASD to take the initiative and to interact with the robotic tools to stimulate emotional responses. However, the existing evidence is limited by poor trial designs.

Rubber hand presentation modulates visuotactile interference effect especially in persons with high autistic traits.

Persons with high autistic traits showed diverse reactions as to their multisensory integration, whereas neurotypical persons adequately integrate visual and tactile information. Successive visual stimuli sometimes interfere ordering of successive tactile stimuli. Presentation of a hand-shaped object would affect the interference.

Training leads to increased auditory brain-computer interface performance of end-users with motor impairments.

Objective: Auditory brain-computer interfaces are an assistive technology that can restore communication for motor impaired end-users. Such non-visual brain-computer interface paradigms are of particular importance for end-users that may lose or have lost gaze control. We attempted to show that motor impaired end-users can learn to control an auditory speller on the basis of event-related potentials.

Comparison of eye tracking, electrooculography and an auditory brain-computer interface for binary communication: a case study with a participant in the locked-in state.

Background: In this study, we evaluated electrooculography (EOG), an eye tracker and an auditory brain-computer interface (BCI) as access methods to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). The participant of the study has been in the locked-in state (LIS) for 6 years due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He was able to communicate with slow residual eye movements, but had no means of partner independent communication.