Reach-relevant somatosensory signals modulate activity in the tactile suppression network

Abstract

Somatosensory signals on a moving limb are typically suppressed. This results mainly from a predictive mechanism that generates an efference copy, and attenuates the predicted sensory consequences of that movement. Sensory feedback is, however, important for movement control. Behavioral studies show that the strength of suppression on a moving limb increases during somatosensory reaching, when reach-relevant somatosensory signals from the target limb can be additionally used to plan and guide the movement, leading to increased reliability of sensorimotor predictions. It is still unknown how this suppression is neurally implemented. In this fMRI study, participants reached to a somatosensory (static finger) or an external target (touch-screen) without vision. To probe suppression, participants detected brief vibrotactile stimuli on their moving finger shortly before reach onset. As expected, sensitivity to probes was reduced during reaching compared to baseline (resting), and this suppression was stronger during somatosensory than external reaching. BOLD activation associated with suppression was also modulated by the reach target: relative to baseline, processing of probes during somatosensory reaching led to distinct BOLD deactivations in somatosensory regions (postcentral gyrus, supramarginal gyrus-SMG) whereas probes during external reaching led to deactivations in the cerebellum. In line with the behavioral results, we also found additional deactivations during somatosensory relative to external reaching in the supplementary motor area, a region linked with sensorimotor prediction. Somatosensory reaching was also linked with increased functional connectivity between the left SMG and the right parietal operculum along with the right anterior insula. We show that somatosensory processing on a moving limb is reduced when additional reach-relevant feedback signals from the target limb contribute to the movement, by down-regulating activation in regions associated with predictive and feedback processing.