motor control, phantom limbs, movement, action, proprioception, motor transformation, action planning, apraxia, affordance, imitation, mirror neurones, robotics

1. Cognitive Psychology
Lesson 5 - Spring 2019
The acting brain
Professor Valentina Bazzarin
USAC Reggio Emilia

2. You just can't differentiate between a robot and the very best of
humans
https://youtu.be/ogBX18maUiM

3. Framework for movement and action
Source: Verwey, W. B., Shea, C. H., & Wright, D. L.
(2015). A cognitive framework for explaining serial
processing and sequence execution strategies.
Psychonomic bulletin & review, 22(1), 54-77.
Action is our way of interfacing with
the world, and our means of putting
all our goals and desires into
practice.
Action has traditionally been
viewed as the end -point of
cognition.
Decision → Action towards
Always true?

4. Jimmy and Johnny
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu6LYL2ynzI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0feuLS
e4xE

5. Degrees of freedom problem and motor programs
Degrees of freedom problem
There are potentially an infinite number of
motor solutions for acting on an object
Motor programs
Stored routines that specify certain motor
parameters of an action (e.g. the relative
timing of strokes)
https://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/28/health/child-
development-baby-milestones/index.html

6. Proprioception and sensory-motor transformation
Somatosensation:
A cluster of perceptual processes that relate
to the skin and the body, an include touch,
pain, thermal sensation and limb position.
Proprioception:
Knowledge of the position of the limbs in
space.
Sensory-motor transformation:
Linking together of perceptual knowledge of objects in space and knowledge of
the position of one’s body to enable objects to be acted on.

7. The homunculus problem
The problem of explaining volitional acts without assuming a
cognitive process that is itself volitional (a man within a
man”)
“homunculus is essentially ‘a little man’ inside you, the agent
behind your actions, the decider behind your decisions, the
see-er behind your sight. Think of the so-called Cartesian
theater inside your mind. All of your thoughts enter stage
right, perform, and exit stage left. But who’s doing the
seeing, considering, evaluating, etc. of these thoughts if
they’re inside you? Not you!”
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-metaphorical-mi
nd/200807/i-finally-got-be-homunculus-part-i

8. Cortical Homunculus, a map and a representation
https://www.ted.com/talks/joshua_w_pate_the_fascinating_science_of_phantom_limbs

9. Tourette syndrome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBVJdI4yk7A
Tourette syndrome (TS or simply
Tourette's) is a common
neuropsychiatric disorder with onset in
childhood, characterized by multiple
motor tics and at least one vocal
(phonic) tic. These tics characteristically
wax and wane, can be suppressed
temporarily, and are typically preceded
by an unwanted urge or sensation in the
affected muscles. Some common tics
are eye blinking, coughing, throat
clearing, sniffing, and facial movements.
Tourette's does not adversely affect
intelligence or life expectancy.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourette_syndrome

10. The role of the frontal lobes in movement and action
Source: https://brainconnection.brainhq.com/2013/03/05/the-anatomy-of-movement/

11. Could neural activity in the primary motor cortex be used to
guide a prosthetic limb?
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/wireless-brain-
computer-network-helps-paralyzed-monkeys-walk-humans-coul
d-be-next-180961049/
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/mar/2
8/neuroprosthetic-tetraplegic-man-control-hand-wit
h-thought-bill-kochevar

12. Planning actions: the SAS model
Damage to prefrontal regions does
not impair the movement or
execution of actions per se. Rather
the actions themselves become poorly
organized and do not necessarily
reflect the goals and intentions of the
individual.
So the damage to prefrontal regions
produces actions that are
disorganized, inappropriate and/or
unintentional.

13. Ownership and awareness of actions
Libet recorded a well-known psychophysiological
correlate of movement preparation called the
readiness potential (RP), which Hans H. Kornhuber
and Lüder Deecke first described in 1965. The RP is
measured using electroencephalographic recording
electrodes placed on the scalp overlying the motor
areas of the frontal lobe, and appears as a ramp like
buildup of electrical activity that precedes voluntary
action by about 1 second. By also recording the
electrical activity of the muscles involved in the wrist
movement, Libet precisely determined the onset of
muscle activity related to the RP.
Source:
http://www.skeptically.org/spiritualism/id11.ht
ml

14. Phantom limbs experiments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98JEwfc4pto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxwn1w7MJ
vk

15. The two-streams hypothesis is a widely accepted
and influential model of the neural processing of vision
as well as hearing.
The hypothesis, given its most popular characterisation
in a paper by David Milner and Melvyn A. Goodale in
1992, argues that humans possess two distinct visual
systems. Recently there seems to be evidence of two
distinct auditory systems as well.
As visual information exits the occipital lobe, and as
sound leaves the phonological network, it follows two
main pathways, or "streams".
Parietofrontal circuits for sensorimotor
transformation
The ventral stream (also known as the
"what pathway") is involved with object
and visual identification and recognition. The
dorsal stream (or, "where pathway") is
involved with processing the object's spatial
location relative to the viewer and with
speech repetition.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-streams_hypothesis

16. Tool
An object that affords certain actions for
specific goals.
Ideomotor apraxia
An inability to produce appropriate gestures
given an object, word or command
Affordance
Structural properties of objects imply certain
usage
Using objects and tools
Source: https://youtu.be/47y3q8nocXY
Tests: occupational therapist assistant

17. Preparation and the execution of actions
Two main subcortical loops are involved in the movement generation. The cerebellar loop
coordinates the timing and trajectory of movement using sensory and motor information. The
basal ganglia loop regulates the excitability of frontal motor structures and biases the
likelihood of movement and the nature of the movement (e.g. the force).

18. Action comprehension and imitation
Imitation
The ability to reproduce the behavior of
another through observation
Mirror neuron
A neuron that responds to goal-directed
actions performed by oneself or by others Source: https://youtu.be/rPVNAESOWSo

19. Wider implications of the mirror neuron system
● Did human language evolve from hand gestures?
(Rizzolatti & Arbib 1998)
● Are mirror neurons important for being able to empathize with others?
(Gallese 2001)
● Do individuals with particular difficulties in understanding others have
impaired mirror neuron system?
(Dapretto et. al 2006)

20. Emotion, imitation, morality and ethics of science
https://www.ted.com/talks/zeynep_tufekci_machine_intelligence_
makes_human_morals_more_important
Machine intelligence is here, and
we're already using it to make
subjective decisions. But the
complex way AI grows and improves
makes it hard to understand and
even harder to control. In this
cautionary talk, techno-sociologist
Zeynep Tufekci explains how
intelligent machines can fail in ways
that don't fit human error patterns --
and in ways we won't expect or be
prepared for. "We cannot outsource
our responsibilities to machines,"
she says. "We must hold on ever
tighter to human values and human
ethics."