Journal article
Self-generated movements with "unexpected" sensory consequences
Current biology, Vol.24(18), pp.2136-2141
09/22/2014
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.07.053
PMCID: PMC4175005
PMID: 25131675
Abstract
The nervous systems of diverse species, including worms and humans, possess mechanisms for distinguishing between sensations arising from self-generated (i.e., expected) movements from those arising from other-generated (i.e., unexpected) movements [1-3]. To make this critical distinction, animals generate copies, or corollary discharges, of motor commands [4, 5]. Corollary discharge facilitates the selective gating of reafferent signals arising from self-generated movements, thereby enhancing detection of novel stimuli [6-10]. However, for a developing nervous system, such sensory gating would be counterproductive if it impedes transmission of the very activity upon which activity-dependent mechanisms depend [11]. In infant rats during active (or REM) sleep--a behavioral state that predominates in early infancy [12-16]--neural circuits within the brainstem [17, 18] trigger hundreds of thousands of myoclonic twitches each day [19]. The putative contribution of these self-generated movements to the activity-dependent development of the sensorimotor system is supported by the observation that reafference from twitching limbs reliably and substantially triggers brain activity [20-23]. In contrast, under identical testing conditions, even the most vigorous wake movements reliably fail to trigger reafferent brain activity [21-23]. One hypothesis that accounts for this paradox is that twitches, uniquely among self-generated movements, lack corollary discharge [23]. Here, we test this hypothesis in newborn rats by manipulating the degree to which self-generated movements are expected and, therefore, their presumed recruitment of corollary discharge. We show that twitches, although self-generated, are processed as if they are unexpected.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Self-generated movements with "unexpected" sensory consequences
- Creators
- Alexandre Tiriac - Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA; Delta Center, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USACarlos Del Rio-Bermudez - Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USAMark S Blumberg - Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA; Delta Center, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA; Department of Biology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. Electronic address: mark-blumberg@uiowa.edu
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Current biology, Vol.24(18), pp.2136-2141
- Publisher
- England
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.cub.2014.07.053
- PMID
- 25131675
- PMCID
- PMC4175005
- ISSN
- 0960-9822
- eISSN
- 1879-0445
- Grant note
- R01 HD063071 / NICHD NIH HHS R37 HD081168 / NICHD NIH HHS HD63071 / NICHD NIH HHS
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 09/22/2014
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Biology
- Record Identifier
- 9984070747302771
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