title: Impact prediction by looming visual stimuli enhances tactile detection.
abstract: From an ecological point of view, approaching objects are potentially more harmful than receding objects. A predator, a dominant conspecific, or a mere branch coming up at high speed can all be dangerous if one does not detect them and produce the appropriate escape behavior fast enough. And indeed, looming stimuli trigger stereotyped defensive responses in both monkeys and human infants. However, while the heteromodal somatosensory consequences of visual looming stimuli can be fully predicted by their spatiotemporal dynamics, few studies if any have explored whether visual stimuli looming toward the face predictively enhance heteromodal tactile sensitivity around the expected time of impact and at its expected location on the body. In the present study, we report that, in addition to triggering a defensive motor repertoire, looming stimuli toward the face provide the nervous system with predictive cues that enhance tactile sensitivity on the face. Specifically, we describe an enhancement of tactile processes at the expected time and location of impact of the stimulus on the face. We additionally show that a looming stimulus that brushes past the face also enhances tactile sensitivity on the nearby cheek, suggesting that the space close to the face is incorporated into the subjects' body schema. We propose that this cross-modal predictive facilitation involves multisensory convergence areas subserving the representation of a peripersonal space and a safety boundary of self.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Neuroscience Cognitive, CNRS UMR 5229, Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, 69675 Bron cedex, France.
authors.forename: Justine
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1020-1845
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cléry
authors.affiliation: Centre de Neuroscience Cognitive, CNRS UMR 5229, Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, 69675 Bron cedex, France.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Guipponi
authors.affiliation: Centre de Neuroscience Cognitive, CNRS UMR 5229, Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, 69675 Bron cedex, France.
authors.forename: Soline
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Odouard
authors.affiliation: Centre de Neuroscience Cognitive, CNRS UMR 5229, Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, 69675 Bron cedex, France.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8847-1859
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wardak
authors.affiliation: Centre de Neuroscience Cognitive, CNRS UMR 5229, Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, 69675 Bron cedex, France benhamed@isc.cnrs.fr.
authors.forename: Suliann
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1510-7284
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ben Hamed
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D004576:Electromyography; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011601:Psychophysics; D017603:Signal Detection, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: body limit; looming visual stimuli; multisensory integration; prediction of impact; predictive coding