TY  - CONF
AU  - Wolbers, Thomas
TI  - Physiological changes through sensory augmentation in path integration: an fMRI study
JO  - Cognitive processing
VL  - 15
IS  - 1
SN  - 1612-4782
M1  - DZNE-2020-00954
SP  - S73
PY  - 2014
AB  - The theory of sensorimotor contingencies (SMCs) describes qualita-tive  experience  as  based  on  the  dependency  between  sensory  inputand  its  preceding  motor  actions.  To  investigate  sensory  processingand learning of new SMCs we used sensory augmentation in a virtualpath  integration  task.  Specifically,  we  built  a  belt  that  maps  direc-tional information of a compass to a set of vibrating elements such asthat the element pointing north is always activated. The belt changesits  tactile  signals  only  by  motor  actions  of  the  belt-wearing  partici-pants, i.e. when turning around.Nine  subjects  wore  the  belt  during  all  waking  hours  for  sevenweeks, 5 control subjects actively trained their navigation, but withouta belt (age 19–32y, seven female). Before and after the training periodwe presented in the fMRI scanner a virtual path integration (PI) taskand a corresponding control task with identical visual stimuli. In halfof  the  trials  of  both  tasks  the  belt  was  switched  on,  coherentlyvibrating with the virtual movements of the subjects.We  used  ROI  analysis  to  concentrate  on  regions  relevant  forspatial  navigation  and  for  sensory  processing.  We  used  a  mixed-effects  ANOVA  to  decompose  the  four  factors  belt  on/off,  belt/control   subjects,   PI/control   task,   and   before/after   training.   Themain effect  PI[control  task  shows  large-scale  differences  in  areasthat  have  been  found  to  be  active  in  similar  navigational  taskssuch  as  medial  superior  temporal  cortices  (MST),  posterior  parietalcortex   (PPC),   ventral   intraparietal   areas,   and   caudate   nucleus.Additionally  we  found  sensorimotor  regions  such  as  supplementarymotor  areas  (SMA),  insula,  primary  sensory  cortex,  and  precentralgyrus.   The  main  effect  belt  on[off  reveals   processing  of  the tactile   signals   in   expected   sensory   areas   such   as   the   primarysensory   cortex,   supramarginal   gyri,   and   Rolandic   opercula.   Insecond-level  analyses  significant  2-way  interactions   between  thebelt  on/off  and  pre/post  training  condition  indicates  an  involvementof  Rolandic  opercula,  Insula,  MST  and  PPC.  Inspection  of  theactivation  intensities  shows  a  significant  difference  belt  on[offonly  in  the  first  measurement  before  the  training  period,  but  notafter  the  training  period.In summary, in  fMRI we observe  differential  activations in  areasexpected for path integration tasks and tactile stimulation. Additionally,we also found activation differences for the belt signals well beyond the somatosensory system, indicating that processing is not limited to sen-sory areas but includes also higher level and motor regions as predicted bythe  theory  of  sensorimotor  contingencies.  It  is  demonstrated  that  thebelt’s signal is processed differently after the training period. Our fMRIresults are also in line with subjective reports indicating a qualitativechange in the perception of the belt signals.
T2  - 12th Biannual Conference of the German Cognitive Science Society (Gesellschaft für Kognitionswissenschaft)
CY  - 29 Sep 2014 - 2 Oct 2014, Tübingen (Germany)
Y2  - 29 Sep 2014 - 2 Oct 2014
M2  - Tübingen, Germany
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)1 ; PUB:(DE-HGF)16
UR  - https://pub.dzne.de/record/145624
ER  -