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11 - Sensory control of object manipulation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2009

By
Roland S. Johansson  and
J. Randall Flanagan
Edited by
Dennis A. Nowak  and
Joachim Hermsdörfer
Dennis A. Nowak
Affiliation:
Klinik Kipfenberg, Kipfenberg, Germany
Joachim Hermsdörfer
Affiliation:
Technical University of Munich
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Summary

Summary

Series of action phases characterize natural object manipulation tasks where each phase is responsible for satisfying a task subgoal. Subgoal attainment typically corresponds to distinct mechanical contact events, either involving the making or breaking of contact between the digits and an object or between a held object and another object. Subgoals are realized by the brain selecting and sequentially implementing suitable action-phase controllers that use sensory predictions and afferents signals in specific ways to tailor the motor output in anticipation of requirements imposed by objects' physical properties. This chapter discusses the use of tactile and visual sensory information in this context. It highlights the importance of sensory predictions, especially related to the discrete and distinct sensory events associated with contact events linked to subgoal completion, and considers how sensory signals influence and interact with such predictions in the control of manipulation tasks.

Sensory systems supporting object manipulation

In addition to multiple motor systems (arm, hand, posture), most natural object manipulation tasks engage multiple sensory systems. Vision provides critical information for control of task kinematics. In reaching, we use vision to locate objects in the environment and to identify contact sites for the digits that will be stable and advantageous for various actions we want to perform with the grasped object (Goodale et al., 1994; Santello & Soechting, 1998; Cohen & Rosenbaum, 2004; Cuijpers et al., 2004; Lukos et al., 2007).

Type
Chapter
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Sensorimotor Control of Grasping
Physiology and Pathophysiology
 , pp. 141 - 160
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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