The functional role of conscious sensation of movement

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Abstract

This paper proposes a new framework for investigating neural signals sufficient for a conscious sensation of movement and their role in motor control. We focus on signals sufficient for proprioceptive awareness, particularly from muscle spindle activation and from primary motor cortex (M1). Our review of muscle vibration studies reveals that afferent signals alone can induce conscious sensations of movement. Similarly, studies employing peripheral nerve blocks suggest that efferent signals from M1 are sufficient for sensations of movement. On this basis, we show that competing theories of motor control assign different roles to sensation of movement. According to motor command theories, sensation of movement corresponds to an estimation of the current state based on afferent signals, efferent signals, and predictions. In contrast, within active inference architectures, sensations correspond to proprioceptive predictions driven by efferent signals from M1. The focus on sensation of movement provides a way to critically compare and evaluate the two theories. Our analysis offers new insights into the functional roles of movement sensations in motor control and consciousness.
Original languageEnglish
Article number105813
JournalNeuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
Volume164
Number of pages14
ISSN0149-7634
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Keywords

  • Faculty of Social Sciences
  • Conscious sensation of movement
  • Proprioception
  • Efferent motor signals
  • Illusions of movement
  • Muscle vibration
  • Motor control
  • Optimal control theory
  • Active inference
  • Motor command
  • Motor physiology
  • Metacognition
  • Sense of agency
  • Consciousness

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