Even if you’re already following a path after coming to a fork in the road, your brain may still be preparing for an alternative scenario. Results of a new study provide evidence that motor neurons are continuously working to translate information from the visual systems into action. Previous research has hinted that the brain’s motor system works with the visual pathways to prepare multiple action plans, but this new study is the first to confirm that the planning goes beyond simply identifying several possibilities visually. The study results showed that, when forced to choose between two targets on a screen, the subjects’ cursor movements were the average of the movement paths needed to reach the two potential targets, not the average between the two target positions on the screen. This spatial averaging surprised the study authors, who say it was not deliberate or strategic, and did not correspond to target locations. The next step for the research team is to try and replicate these results in an fMRI.
Authors:
Jason P. Gallivan, Brandie M. Stewart, Lee A. Baugh, Daniel M. Wolpert, J. Randall Flanagan
Corresponding Canadian author:
Jason Gallivan, Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, Email: gallivan@queensu.ca
Original paper published in Cell Reports on February 14, 2017.
