Predictive attenuation of touch and tactile gating are distinct perceptual phenomena

Published: Nov. 15, 2020, 5:02 a.m.

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.11.13.381202v1?rss=1 Authors: Kilteni, K., Ehrsson, H. H. Abstract: In recent decades, research on somatosensory perception has led to two important observations. First, self-generated touches that are predicted by voluntary movements become attenuated compared to externally generated touches of the same intensity (attenuation). Second, externally generated touches feel weaker and are more difficult to detect during movement compared to rest (gating). Researchers today often consider gating and attenuation to be the same suppression process; however, this assumption is unwarranted because, despite more than forty years of research, no study has combined them in a single paradigm. We quantified how people perceive self-generated and externally generated touches during movement and rest. We demonstrate that whereas voluntary movement gates the precision of both self-generated and externally generated touch, the amplitude of self-generated touch is selectively attenuated compared to externally generated touch. We further show that attenuation and gating neither interact nor correlate, and we conclude that they represent distinct perceptual phenomena. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info