Psychonoom-22e-2007

de Psychonoom 22e jaargang – Nr 2007 Inhoud Colofon Redactie: Pascal Brenders (RU) Matthijs Dicke (RuG) Tanja Nijboer (UU) Michiel Spapé (UL) Aan dit nummer werkten mee: Bernard Hommel Harold Bekkering David Milner Melvyn Goodale Lennart Verhagen Chris Jansen Chris Dijkerman Helen Anema Marjolein Kammers Lay-out: Matthijs Dicke Druk: Voorwoord Perceptie en Actie in Utrecht Eigenwijsneusje Chris Dijkerman, Helen Anema, Marjolein Kammers, Lennart Verhagen Chris Jansen Perceptie en Actie in UK en Canada 13 Perceptie en Actie of Perceptie-Actie? 18 Actie in Nijmegen 25 Wintercongres 29 InDruk Promoties Actie Perceptie Taal Motoriek Geheugen Overige 30 30 30 31 33 34 35 36 Aankondigingen 38 Milner and Goodale Multicopy Leiden Distributie: De redactie Correspondentie: Pascal Brenders p.brenders@bsi.ru.nl Advertenties: Pascal Brenders p.brenders@bsi.ru.nl Ledenadministratie en secretaris NVP: Martijn Meeter (VU) m.meeter@psy.vu.nl Tel: 020-4448993 NVP Website: http://www.psychonomie.nl Bernard Hommel Harold Bekkering Voorwoord Congressen, workshops, en lezingen Voorwoord Actie in de Psychonoom, of Psychonoom in actie Een actie kan een demonstratie zijn of een staking Het woord actie wordt ook wel gebruikt als filmgenre: actiefilm Een regisseur kan met het woord actie acteurs laten beginnen te bewegen Maar actie wordt ook onderzocht Het komt ook in veel woorden voor: Aanvalsactie, aanvalstactiek, abstractie, abstractiegraad, abstractieniveau, abstractieproces, actiebereidheid, actiecomitee, actiefzijde, actiegerichtheid, actiegroep, actiehandel, actiemodel, actiemogelijkheid, actieproces, actieprogram, actieprogramma, actieradius, actieruimte, actiesignaal, actieterrein, actietype, actief, actieveld, actieveling, actievoerster, afstotingsreactie, angstreactie, arbeidssatisfactie, attractie, attractief, bankactie, bevrijdingsactie, bezitsactie, bliksemactie, bureauredactie, cadeau-actie, coactie, contractie, daadsactie, democratiseringsactie, depotfractiebewijs, didactiek, diffractie, distractie, druppelreactie, Eerste-Kamerfractie, eindredactie, enzymreactie, extractie, extractief, factie, fotoredactie, fractie, fractieberaad, fractiecommissie, fractiegenoot, fractiegenote, fractieleider, fractievergadering, fractievoorzitster, fractievoorzitter, galactiet, gevechtsactie, gevoelsreactie, geweldactie, gezinsinteractie, gezinsreactie, gijzelingsactie, groepsactie, groepsinteractie, handtekeningenactie, hartactie, hoofdredactie, huidreactie, hulpactie, hyperactief, immuniteitsreactie, inactief, infractie, interactie, interactie-effect, interactiemethode, interactiemogelijkheid, interactieproces, interactiesituatie, interactietraining, interactief, inzamelingsactie, kamerfractie, kamikaze-actie, kermisattractie, kernreactie, kettingreactie, koersreactie, kraakactie, krantenredactie, kranteredactie, kunstredactie, langzaam-aan-actie, lawinereactie, lezersreactie, lichaamsreactie, lichtreactie, liefdadigheidsactie, loonactie, massa-actie, milieu-actie, milieu-actiegroep, miljoenentransactie, modelactie, motortractie, nietigheidsactie, non-actief, onderhandelingstactiek, ontstekingsreactie, oorlogstactiek, opsporingsactie, orthodidactiek, overactief, overdrachtsreactie, overgevoeligheidsreactie, overheidsreactie, paniekreactie, parlementsfractie, prikactie, propaganda-actie, protestactie, putrefactie, raadsfractie, radioactief, rafactie, rarefactie, reactie, reactiefase, reactieformatie, reactiemotor, reactieprodukt, reactiesnelheid, reactietijd, reactief, reactievat, reactievermogen, reactiewarmte, redactie, redactieadres, redactiebeleid, redactiebureau, redactiechef, redactiecommissie, redactiegeheim, redactiekantoor, redactiekosten, redactielid, redactielokaal, redactiesecretaris, redactiesom, redactiestatuut, redactieteam, redactievergadering, reddingactie, reddingsactie, redoxreactie, refactie, refractie, refractiecoefficient, regeringsfractie, retractie, retroactief, sabotage-actie, salamitactiek, satisfactie, schadeactie, schadevergoedingsactie, schrikreactie, serumreactie, solidariteitsactie, spaaractie, spiercontractie, stakingsactie, stalactiet, steunactie, stiptheidsactie, stoomtractie, stopreactie, straatactie, stressreactie, struisvogeltactiek, studentenactie, substractie, subtractief, tactiek, tandextractie, tegenactie, terreuractie, tijdschriftredactie, tijdsfractie, tractie, transactie, transactiegegeven, vakbondsactie, vakdidactiek, vastenactie, vergeldingsactie, verkiezingsactie, vermijdingsreactie, vertragingsactie, vertragingstactiek, verzetsactie, vlamreactie, vredesactie, wervingsactie, wraakactie, zelfmoordactie, zuiveringsactie, zwangerschapsreactie De redactie Perceptie en Actie in Utrecht Helen Anema (HA) Marjolein Kammers (MK) To start with, could you tell us something about your work, the institutes or universities you work at or collaborate with, and your scientific interests? What were your educational backgrounds? CD: I work at Utrecht University My work is mainly concerned with the neural basis of sensory processing for perception and action I studied Neuro- and Rehabilitation psychology at Nijmegen University and did my PhD in Experimental Psychology in London and Oxford on motor and sensory consequences of hemispherectomy I subsequently worked as neuropsychologist at Frenchay hospital in Bristol and did a Postdoc with David Milner in St Andrews before moving to Utrecht With respect to collaborations, we currently have good contacts with several labs both in the Netherlands and abroad and conduct collaborative studies with among others Ivan Toni, Jeroen Smeets, David Milner, Patrick Haggard, and Susan Lederman Utrecht De perceptie en actie groep bij psychologische functieleer aan de Universiteit Utrecht onderzoekt diverse aspecten van visuele en somatosensorische waarneming en motoriek Deze groep wordt gefinancierd door vidi en open competitie subsidies van NWO Naast Chris Dijkerman bestaat de groep uit drie AIO’s, Helen Anema (neuropsychologie van somatosensorische waarneming en actie), Marjolein Kammers (illusies en lichaamsrepresentatie) en Lennart Verhagen (visuele perceptuo-motor interacties in samenwerking met Ivan Toni van het FC Donders Instituut) Chris Dijkerman (CD) Lennart Verhagen (LV) MK: I obtained my master’s degree in psychology with neuropsychology and statistics as specialisations at Utrecht University During my last months of studying, this interesting PhD project about body representations and action versus perception in the somatosensory system was brought to my attention Fortunately, Chris Dijkerman offered me the position so I could start directly after obtaining my master’s degree The first couple of weeks, I tried to broaden my horizon through reading as much as possible I soon discovered my scientific interest lies with the distinction between different body representations in the brain Why would the brain have multiple “images” of the current spatial configuration of the body? Why not just one? And how can we dissociate the two in a healthy brain? During the first two years, I have conducted several behavioural studies using somatosensory illusions to “deceive” the healthy brain and revealing the existence of different body representation through different task demands Currently, Utrecht I am working at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University College of London, where I am further looking into the specific distinctions that can be made between the dissociable body representations LV: I obtained a bachelor’s degree in Biology and my master’s in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Utrecht University During my master’s, I was fortunate enough to work on a collaboration project with Chris Dijkerman and Ivan Toni at the FC Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging in Nijmegen I continued to work with Dijkerman and Toni as a PhD student sharing my time between the department of Experimental Psychology at the Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University and the FC Donders Centre My main research interest is in the contributions of the ventral and dorsal streams to visuomotor interaction HA: After finishing my neuropsychological education at Tilburg University (which I started after receiving my diploma in physical therapy,) I started my PhD at Utrecht University, experimental psychology lab My main project focuses on how tactile information is processed when used for action guidance as compared to conscious recognition, as well as how these processes recover after central brain damage due to stroke Furthermore, I am interested in how the brain processes tactile information which is haptically gathered by our fingers Some of this work is in collaboration with Krista Overvliet of the VU Amsterdam What made you enter the field of visual perception and action? CD: From secondary school onwards, I have been intrigued by how movements are controlled Although cognitive functions such as memory are interesting, I preferred to study a functional system which could be measured and observed more directly When I studied in Nijmegen, motor control was one of the functions that were taught within the Neuropsychology specialization, something which at that time was quite rare This allowed me to combine my interests in Neuropsychology and motor control Since then, action has become gradually more mainstream within Cognitive neuroscience and it’s relation to perceptual, cognitive and affective systems makes it a suitable starting point from which to study a range of topics We are currently involved in studies of consciousness, number representations, attentional impairments and mental imagery, all of whom are linked to action MK: This actually happened gradually At first, I was just really interested by the PhD project of Chris Dijkerman The main thing I liked about it was that it tried to combine different techniques, like for example Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and that it tried to combine evidence found in neuropsychological patients with the functioning of the healthy brain I think it is fascinating that the brain seems to work in such a coherent and undemanding way when we move or make a perceptual judgement, but when you “distort” the brain with for example illusions, you can see the complex and multiple underlying mechanisms I guess the search for these precise mechanisms, their similarities and distinctions is what made me choose to enter this field LV: At high school “Big Questions” like Einstein’s theory of relativity or the origin of the universe draws pupils to study Physics I was drawn by other big questions, like consciousness, human communication and evolution Biology was a sensible choice for me, because I like to approach a problem from the bottom up and had the feeling all my scientific interests centred around Biology But my education starting at Molecular Biology and going to Neurobiology, HA: As a physical therapist, I have been working with patients recovering from sensorimotor impairments after stroke Lack of scientifically grounded treatment programs triggered me to learn more about the Neuropsychology of haptics Chris Dijkerman provided me with the opportunity to work on the project “action and perception in the somatosensory system” Why you believe it necessary to study both perception and action? All: If you want to understand how sensory systems are organised, you need to consider the purpose of its processing For both somatosensory and visual processing, recognition of stimuli and guidance of a wide variety of actions are important functions Therefore, if you want to study these two sensory systems you need to investigate both perception and action The four of you are all investigating action-perception, but at different levels, with different techniques, and different groups of participants Could you tell us something about the projects and interesting findings so far? Could you name some of your findings, discoveries or insights that you are most proud of? CD: With respect to visuomotor control, there are some studies when working as a Postdoc with David Milner in St Andrews that showed clear visuomotor impairments in visual form agnosic patient DF (under monocular viewing conditions, after a delay) and paradoxical improvements in optic ataxic patients (after a delay) which provide further insight into the two visual streams model With Marie Johnston and Magdalena Ietswaart, we have been investigating motor imagery training as a means of improving arm function after a stroke A randomized control trial has just been completed and, based on pilot studies, we are hopeful that this type of training may enhance motor recovery Finally, Edward de Haan (Utrecht University) and I developed a model of cortical somatosensory processing, integrating evidence from a range of topics that have often been considered separately, such as body representations and tactile object recognition The article describing the model is now in press in BBS as a target article MK: In order to dissociate the different body representations underlying action and perception we use deception That is, we use somatosensory illusions which affect both representations in a different way One well known illusion is the vibrotactile kinaesthetic illusion Through vibration of a tendon a stimulated limb is perceived as moving and finally as stabilised in a different (illusory) location This of course creates multiple opportunities to test the flexibility of the representation(s) in the brain For instance, Lackner (1983) has shown that we can actually create a “Pinocchio-nose” when subjects hold their nose with the stimulated limb My most profound result with this illusion has been Utrecht Behavioural Biology and finally Cognitive Neuroscience steadily progressed Within the extremely broad scientific field of Neurosciences, I regard the subfield of perception and action as a fantastic opportunity to address almost all my interests The sensorimotor system underlying perception and action lies at the basis of almost all behaviour and studying it gives the opportunity to learn something about the basic workings of the human brain I love to see that from scientific fields primarily investigating higher cognitive functions, such as Cognitive Linguistics, more and more interest is growing in the basic workings of the sensorimotor systems and the perception and action dissociation in particular I still love to approach problems from the bottom up Although now I am employed at the Faculty of Social Sciences I still regard myself as a biologist Utrecht that the illusion affects perceptual responses differently from action responses This has been taken as evidence for the existence of multiple body representations Another, fascinating illusion is the rubber hand illusion During this illusion, subjects look at a rubber hand while the congruent real hand is occluded from vision Next, the index of the real hand and the rubber hand are being stroked This can either be done in synchrony or in a– synchrony When this is done in synchrony people start to experience a feeling of ownership of the rubber hand, which results in a relocation of the perceived location of the real hand towards the rubber hand Recently, we have shown that motor responses such as reaching and grasping are not influenced by the illusion while perceptual judgements are Again this supports the idea of multiple body representations The rubber hand used during the rubber hand illusion LV: Although a major influence for my current research was the study of patients with visual object agnosia, I myself am now using healthy subjects to learn more about the workings of the human brain Currently, I’m wrapping up a functional MRI study aimed at investigating the contributions of the lateral occipital complex (LOC) in the ventral stream to a goal directed reaching-grasping movement We are comparing the most common situation, when the object to grasp can be seen with two eyes and depth cues can be obtained from stereoscopic information to the condition where the object is visible with one eye only and depth has to be estimated on perceptual cues, such as lighting and linear perspective Although such a fMRI study where a function is linked to a location in the brain is quite interesting on its own, we are also interested at which time between stimulus presentation and the end of the grasping movement the contribution of LOC is most crucial and if the functional connectivity between LOC and other brain areas such as HA: Finding two patients with entirely opposite response patterns on a body image (perception) and body schema (action) task emphasizes the earlier findings of Paillard, who defined body image and body schema to be double dissociable Other evidence for independent processing of tactile information for body image tasks and body schema tasks comes from patients with finger agnosia, who present impaired finger naming after tactile stimulation as well as an inability to indicate on a map of a hand which finger has been touched In contrast, these patients are still able to indicate the touched finger on their own hand Also small steps have been taken in investigating the influence of finger position on higher order perceptual processes It appears that a top down ”idea” of how our fingers are normally arranged (finger image,) is being used to interpret the outside tactile world Changing the position of the fingers during haptic exploration, changes our percept Finally, very premature results show that when healthy participants are daily viewing movies of their fingers being simultaneously touched by various materials, this seems to affect our ability to accurately localize tactile targets on our fingers Through the years, several interesting ways to study cognitive effects have been developed, also in your lab Should you be able to give the reader a guided tour through your 'virtual garden-shed' that is filled with your measuring equipment and hardware, what would you show him / her? CD: We use a range, from paper and pencil neuropsychological tests to movement recording devices, TMS, fMRI, skin conductance, electronic tappers and LCD glasses, anything that may allow us to study the questions we ask For me personally, the study of brain damaged patients remains central, using all different types of methodology mentioned above MK: I guess I would show them a rubber hand and two brushes This sounds of course a bit strange, but you not need very fancy sophisticated equipment to investigate the body in the brain LV: I would start to show my pen and paper, because almost all ideas start with a little scribble on a piece of paper during some slow hours at work, an intense brain storming session or an interesting talk at a conference But after those basics the measuring equipment of a neuroscientist studying perception and action are truly astonishing Especially the combination of top of the range neuroimaging equipment with well known setups from experimental psychology is impressive We ourselves are using the MR-scanner for different types of studies and analyses, structural and functional imaging, looking for neural correlates of behaviour in cortical activity and connectivity But together with a state of the art machine we build our own devices to let participants grasp in the small space of the MR-scanner using wood, pieces of string, cardboard and sticky tape In the behavioural lab we use the MiniBird hardware to track the kinematics of goal directed action, sometimes combined with TMS measurements I would end the tour at my computer, because the use of both homemade and end of the line measurement equipment can be thrilling, but many crucial developments are made programming the experiments and analysing the data Today a powerful computer is vital for research in neuroscience Utrecht the ventral premotor cortex is increased when stereoptic information is withheld We are currently setting up both a transcranial magnetic stimulation and a dynamic causal modelling study to try to tackle those questions Utrecht HA: Measuring all my interesting dependent variables under various experimental conditions forces me to use the following: Polhemus magnetic movement recorder, 10 computer controlled tactile tappers, a set of Von Frey hairs (tactile stimulators) etc What in your opinion is the most promising way to further study actionperception? All: Networks may become more and more important Being able to describe effective connectivity within sensorimotor networks and links with systems that are largely considered to be separate will be crucial What would you like to in the coming years? CD: Continue what I am currently doing MK: I would like to build a theoretical framework This would give me the opportunity to further explore the philosophical as well as psychological questions After that I would of course like to design the crucial experiments to test this model LV: Finding a blob of activation in fMRI data that correlates with a behavioural task is nice, but it will never tell the whole story of how our brain works Studying neural networks and cortical connectivity can tell us a bit more about the underlying principles Therefore I would like to elaborate on the knowledge of the neural correlations of goal directed action by studying functional connectivity using DCM, TMS and MEG HA: After my PhD, I would like to gain more expertise in somatosensory research and in particularly in the area of sensorimotor recovery after stroke Also I would like to narrow the gap between science and physiotherapy practice since I have noticed that it takes ages before interesting findings are being integrated in clinical treatment programs How you think “Action & Perception” will develop in the coming 10 years? All: The last fifteen years considerable attention has been focused on the question of whether sensory processing for perception and action are separate We think it would be of interest to delineate further the characteristics of task dependent processing, but specifically focus on how interactions between different networks involved in perceptual recognition, sensorimotor guidance, attention, semantic and affective processing can be best characterized for a certain task And neuropsychology still has a role to play when it comes to determining the necessity of certain modules for specific functions Psychophysicists often point to Wundt as the founder of psychology like psychotherapists may feel Freud should be acknowledged as such Who is your favourite historical reference? CD: I admire the work of the late 19th early 20th century neurologists such as Huglings-Jackson and Balint The concepts they developed based on careful observation of behavioural impairments in brain damaged patients still form the basis of many neurocognitive models LV: Wilhelm Wundt; William James; Hermann Helmholtz; Herman Ebbinghaus; and some more men from that era But my personal favourites are Aristotle, Charles Darwin and Niko Tinbergen Contact C Dijkerman: c.dijkerman@uu.nl M Kammers: m.p.m.kammers@uu.nl H Anema: h.a.anema@uu.nl L Verhagen: l.verhagen@uu.nl [TN]