Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Motor transfer from map ocular exploration to locomotion during spatial navigation from memory

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Experimental Brain Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Spatial navigation from memory can rely on two different strategies: a mental simulation of a kinesthetic spatial navigation (egocentric route strategy) or visual-spatial memory using a mental map (allocentric survey strategy). We hypothesized that a previously performed “oculomotor navigation” on a map could be used by the brain to perform a locomotor memory task. Participants were instructed to (1) learn a path on a map through a sequence of vertical and horizontal eyes movements and (2) walk on the slabs of a “magic carpet” to recall this path. The main results showed that the anisotropy of ocular movements (horizontal ones being more efficient than vertical ones) influenced performances of participants when they change direction on the central slab of the magic carpet. These data suggest that, to find their way through locomotor space, subjects mentally repeated their past ocular exploration of the map, and this visuo-motor memory was used as a template for the locomotor performance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andersen NE, Dahmani L, Konishi K, Bohbot VD (2012) Eye tracking, strategies, and sex differences in virtual navigation. Neurobiol Learn Mem 97(1):81–89

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Berthoz A (1997) Parietal and hippocampal contribution to topokinetic and topographic memory. Philos Trans R Soc 352(1360):1437–1448

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brunyé TT, Mahoney CR, Augustyn JS, Taylor HA (2009) Horizontal saccadic eye movements enhance the retrieval of landmark shape and location information. Brain Cogn 70(3):279–288

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burgess N (2006) Spatial memory: how egocentric and allocentric combine. Trends Cogn Sci 10(12):551–557

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Galati G, Pelle G, Berthoz A, Committeri G (2010) Multiple reference frames used by the human brain for spatial perception and memory. Exp Brain Res 206:109–120

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gentilucci M, Daprati E, Gangitano M (1998) Haptic information differentially interferes with visual analysis in reaching-grasping control and in perceptual processes. NeuroRep 9(5):887–891

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Grönqvist H, Gredebäck G, von Hofsten C (2006) Developmental asymmetries between horizontal and vertical tracking. Vis Res 46(11):1754–1761

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heremans E, Helsen WF, Feys P (2008) The eyes as a mirror of our thoughts: quantification of motor imagery of goal-directed movements through eye movement registration. Behav Brain Res 187(2):351–360

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heremans E, Smits-Engelsman B, Caeyenberghs K, Vercruysse S, Nieuwboer A, Feys P, Helsen WF (2011) Keeping an eye on imagery: the role of eye movements during motor imagery training. Neurosci 195:37–44

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hesslow G (2012) The current status of the simulation theory of cognition. Brain Res 1428:71–79

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Höllinger P, Beisteiner R, Lang W, Lindinger G, Berthoz A (1999) Mental representations of movements. Brain potentials associated with imagination of eye movements. Clin Neurophysiol 110:799–805

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hoyek N, Champely S, Collet C, Fargier P, Guillot A (2009) Age and gender-related differences in the temporal congruence development between motor imagery and motor performance. Learn Individ Differ 19(4):555–560

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hutton JT, Nagel JA, Loewenson RB (1983) Variables affecting eye tracking performance. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 56(5):414–419

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ingster-Moati I, Vaivre-Douret L, Bui Quoc E, Albuisson E, Dufier J-L, Golse B (2009) Vertical and horizontal smooth pursuit eye movements in children: a neuro-developmental study. Eur J Paediatr Neurol 13(4):362–366

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kimura D (1999) Sex and cognition. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Klatzky RL (1998) Allocentric and egocentric spatial representations: definitions, distinctions, and interconnections. In: Freksa C, Habel C, Wender KF (eds) Spatial cognition, an interdisciplinary approach to representing and processing spatial knowledge. Springer, Berlin, pp 1–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Kunz BR, Creem-Regehr SH, Thompson WB (2009) Evidence for motor simulation in imagined locomotion. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 35(5):1458–1471

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Laeng B, Teodorescu D-S (2002) Eye scanpaths during visual imagery reenact those of perception of the same visual scene. Cogn Sci 26:207–231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lafon M, Vidal M, Berthoz A (2009) Selective influence of prior allocentric knowledge on the kinesthetic learning of a path. Exp Brain Res 194:541–552

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lambrey S, Berthoz A (2007) Gender differences in the use of external landmarks versus spatial representations updated by self-motion. J Integr Neurosci 6(3):1–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lang W, Petit L, Höllinger P, Pietrzyk U, Tzourio N, Mazoyer B, Berthoz A (1994) A positron emission tomography study of oculomotor imagery. NeuroRep 5:921–924

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Meilinger T, Berthoz A, Wiener J (2011) The integration of spatial information across different viewpoints. Mem Cogn 39(6):1042–1054

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mellet E, Bricogne S, Tzourio-Mazoyer N, Ghaëm O, Petit L, Zago L, Etard O, Berthoz A, Mazoyer B, Denis M (2000) Neural correlates of topographic mental exploration: the impact of exocentric/egocentric perspective learning. NeuroImage 11(5 Suppl):S64

  • Nyberg L, Eriksson J, Larsson A, Marklund P (2006) Learning by doing versus learning by thinking: an fMRI study of motor and mental training. Neuropsychologia 44(5):711–717

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Olivier G, Labiale G (2008) Ocular pursuit and visual memory of moving shapes. Neuropsychologia 46(11):2831–2835

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Olivier G, Velay J-L, Labiale G, Celse C, Faure S (2004) Mental rotation and simulation of a reaching and grasping manual movement. Percept Mot Skills 98:1107–1116

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Papaxanthis C, Pozzo T, Skoura X, Schieppati M (2002) Does order and timing performance of imagined and actual movements affect the motor imagery process? The duration of walking and writing task. Behav Brain Res 134:209–215

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Piccardi L, Iaria G, Ricci M, Bianchini F, Zompanti L, Guariglia C (2008) Walking in the Corsi test: which type of memory do you need? Neurosci Lett 432(2):127–131

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Piccardi L, Risetti M, Nori R, Tanzilli A, Bernardi L, Guariglia C (2011) Perspective changing in primary and secondary learning: a gender difference study. Learn Individ Differ 21(1):114–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pierrot-Deseilligny C, Müri RM, Ploner CJ, Gaymard B, Rivaud-Péchoux S (2003) Cortical control of ocular saccades in humans: a model for motricity. Prog Brain Res 142:3–17

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson D, Matlock T (2007) The integration of figurative language and static depictions: an eye movement study of fictive motion. Cognition 102(1):129–138

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rottach KG, Zivotofsky AZ, Das VE, Averbuch-Heller LEA, Discenna AO, Poonyathalang A, Leigh RJ (1996) Comparison of horizontal, vertical and diagonal smooth pursuit eye movements in normal human subjects. Vis Res 36(14):2189–2195

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vavrečka M (2009) The neural correlates of spatial reference frames processing. Cogn Process 10:342–345

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vieilledent S, Berthoz A, Kosslyn S, Giraudo MD (2003) Does mental simulation of following a path improve navigation performance without vision? Cogn Brain Res 16(2):238–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank warmly Mahé Ben Hamed (BCL, CNRS, France) for revising the English.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, LIRCES, EA 3159, 98 bd Edouard Herriot, BP 3209, 06204, Nice Cedex 3, France

    Alixia Demichelis & Gérard Olivier

  2. Collège de France, Laboratoire de Physiologie de la Perception et de l’Action (LPPA), 11 place Marcelin Berthelot, 75005, Paris, France

    Alain Berthoz

Authors
  1. Alixia Demichelis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gérard Olivier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Alain Berthoz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alixia Demichelis.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Demichelis, A., Olivier, G. & Berthoz, A. Motor transfer from map ocular exploration to locomotion during spatial navigation from memory. Exp Brain Res 224, 605–611 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3336-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3336-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation