Non-predictive online spatial coding in the posterior parietal cortex when aiming ahead for catching

Sinéad A Reid,Joost C Dessing

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-26069-1

Sinéad A Reid, Joost C Dessing

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-26069-1

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Journal: Scientific Reports	Publication Date: May 17, 2018
Citations: 6	License type: open-access

Affiliation: Queen's University Belfast

Abstract

Catching movements must be aimed ahead of the moving ball, which may require predictions of when and where to catch. Here, using repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation we show for the first time that the Superior Parietal Occipital Cortex (SPOC) displays non-predictive online spatial coding at the moment the interception movements were already aimed at the predicted final target position. The ability to aim ahead for catching must thus arise downstream within the parietofrontal network for reaching.

Highlights

The ability to predict future events in the environment is key to success of aspects of life
The key question is how this behaviour emerges from the cortical online movement planning network. We evaluated how these movements were affected by repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) to Superior Parietal Occipital Cortex (SPOC) and medial Intraparietal Sulcus (mIPS)
With the exception of a single participant, the rTMS effect was only shown if initiation occurred >100 ms before the last TMS pulse, that is, if the initial movement direction was determined within the rTMS window (Fig. 4b)

Summary

Introduction

The ability to predict future events in the environment is key to success of aspects of life. Motor control is thought to rely heavily on prediction, because of sensorimotor delays and the general dynamic nature of the environment[2,3,4] This is often considered hand-in-hand with movement pre-programming, where the relevant movement features are set in advance of movement execution. Our key question is how and where within the brain the movement is planned to be aimed ahead of the target This can be studied among others by examining whether the spatial coding of target and/or hand movement parameters reflects the continuously changing target position (which we will call non-predictive coding) or its final position at interception (which we will call predictive coding). This paradigm provided separate evaluation of the evidence for predictive and non-predictive coding

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