Trying to move your unseen static arm modulates visually-evoked kinesthetic illusion.

Although kinesthesia is known to largely depend on afferent inflow, recent data suggest that central signals originating from volitional control (efferent outflow) could also be involved and interact with the former to build up a coherent percept. Evidence derives from both clinical and experimental observations where vision, which is of primary importance in kinesthesia, was systematically precluded. The purpose of the present experiment was to assess the role of volitional effort in kinesthesia when visual information is available.

Integration of visual and proprioceptive afferents in kinesthesia.

Proprioceptive signals are of prime importance in kinesthesia. However, in conditions of visuo-proprioceptive conflicts, strong visual-evoked biases can be observed. In three experiments, we parsed the interaction between visual and proprioceptive afferents using the 'mirror box' paradigm.

Influence of head orientation on visually and memory-guided arm movements.

In the absence of visual supervision, tilting the head sideways gives rise to deviations in spatially defined arm movements. The purpose of this study was to determine whether these deviations are restricted to situations with impoverished visual information. Two experiments were conducted in which participants were positioned supine and reproduced with their unseen index finger a 2 dimensional figure either under visual supervision or from memory (eyes closed).