Dataset Information

Enhancing sensorimotor activity by controlling virtual objects with gaze.

ABSTRACT: This fMRI work studies brain activity of healthy volunteers who manipulated a virtual object in the context of a digital game by applying two different control methods: using their right hand or using their gaze. The results show extended activations in sensorimotor areas, not only when participants played in the traditional way (using their hand) but also when they used their gaze to control the virtual object. Furthermore, with the exception of the primary motor cortex, regional motor activity was similar regardless of what the effector was: the arm or the eye. These results have a potential application in the field of the neurorehabilitation as a new approach to generate activation of the sensorimotor system to support the recovery of the motor functions.

SUBMITTER: Modrono C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4370397 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Enhancing sensorimotor activity by controlling virtual objects with gaze.

Modroño Cristián C Plata-Bello Julio J Zelaya Fernando F García Sofía S Galván Iván I Marcano Francisco F Navarrete Gorka G Casanova Óscar Ó Mas Manuel M González-Mora José Luis JL

PloS one 20150323 3

This fMRI work studies brain activity of healthy volunteers who manipulated a virtual object in the context of a digital game by applying two different control methods: using their right hand or using their gaze. The results show extended activations in sensorimotor areas, not only when participants played in the traditional way (using their hand) but also when they used their gaze to control the virtual object. Furthermore, with the exception of the primary motor cortex, regional motor activity ...[more]

PMID: 25799431

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Project description:How vision guides gaze in realistic settings has been researched for decades. Human gaze behavior is typically measured in laboratory settings that are well controlled but feature-reduced and movement-constrained, in sharp contrast to real-life gaze control that combines eye, head, and body movements. Previous real-world research has shown environmental factors such as terrain difficulty to affect gaze; however, real-world settings are difficult to control or replicate. Virtual reality (VR) offers the experimental control of a laboratory, yet approximates freedom and visual complexity of the real world (RW). We measured gaze data in 8 healthy young adults during walking in the RW and simulated locomotion in VR. Participants walked along a pre-defined path inside an office building, which included different terrains such as long corridors and flights of stairs. In VR, participants followed the same path in a detailed virtual reconstruction of the building. We devised a novel hybrid control strategy for movement in VR: participants did not actually translate: forward movements were controlled by a hand-held device, rotational movements were executed physically and transferred to the VR. We found significant effects of terrain type (flat corridor, staircase up, and staircase down) on gaze direction, on the spatial spread of gaze direction, and on the angular distribution of gaze-direction changes. The factor world (RW and VR) affected the angular distribution of gaze-direction changes, saccade frequency, and head-centered vertical gaze direction. The latter effect vanished when referencing gaze to a world-fixed coordinate system, and was likely due to specifics of headset placement, which cannot confound any other analyzed measure. Importantly, we did not observe a significant interaction between the factors world and terrain for any of the tested measures. This indicates that differences between terrain types are not modulated by the world. The overall dwell time on navigational markers did not differ between worlds. The similar dependence of gaze behavior on terrain in the RW and in VR indicates that our VR captures real-world constraints remarkably well. High-fidelity VR combined with naturalistic movement control therefore has the potential to narrow the gap between the experimental control of a lab and ecologically valid settings.

Dataset Information

Enhancing sensorimotor activity by controlling virtual objects with gaze.

Publications

Enhancing sensorimotor activity by controlling virtual objects with gaze.

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