Discover how the brain integrates signals from muscles to create a cohesive sense of body position and movement. A recent study sheds light on the computational principles involved in proprioception, potentially advancing neuroprosthetics.
Understanding Proprioception: How the Brain Processes Body Movement and Position
( Credit to: Miragenews )
Proprioception, often referred to as our 'sixth sense,' plays a crucial role in allowing us to move freely without constantly having to watch our limbs. But have you ever wondered how the brain knows the position and movement of our body parts? A recent study conducted by researchers at EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) has delved into this fascinating topic, shedding light on the computational principles involved in proprioception.
Proprioception relies on a complex network of sensors embedded in our muscles, which send information about limb position and movement back to our brain. However, the process of how the brain integrates these signals from the muscles has remained a mystery.
Led by Alexander Mathis, the study utilized musculoskeletal simulators to compute the statistics of the distributed sensors, generating muscle spindle signals in the upper limb. This allowed the researchers to create a collection of 'large-scale, naturalistic movement repertoire.' Thousands of neural network models were then trained on sixteen computational tasks, each representing a scientific hypothesis about proprioception.
By analyzing these models and computational tasks, the researchers discovered that the most effective models were those trained to predict limb position and velocity. This suggests that our brains prioritize integrating the distributed muscle spindle input to understand body movement and position.
This groundbreaking study highlights the potential of task-driven modeling in neuroscience. By focusing on the underlying computational principles of sensory processing, rather than solely predicting neural activity, researchers can gain valuable insights into proprioception. This approach could pave the way for new experimental avenues in neuroscience and advancements in neuroprosthetics, leading to more natural and intuitive control of artificial limbs.