Review article
Precision control for a flexible body representation

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.10.023Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Body representation relies on adequately weighting sensory evidence.

  • Visual and proprioceptive processing can be contextually adjusted.

  • Attenuation of proprioception helps resolve visuo-proprioceptive conflict.

  • Precision control can resolve bodily uncertainty under intersensory conflict.

Abstract

Adaptive body representation requires the continuous integration of multisensory inputs within a flexible ‘body model’ in the brain. The present review evaluates the idea that this flexibility is augmented by the contextual modulation of sensory processing ‘top-down’; which can be described as precision control within predictive coding formulations of Bayesian inference. Specifically, I focus on the proposal that an attenuation of proprioception may facilitate the integration of conflicting visual and proprioceptive bodily cues. Firstly, I review empirical work suggesting that the processing of visual vs proprioceptive body position information can be contextualised ‘top-down’; for instance, by adopting specific attentional task sets. Building up on this, I review research showing a similar contextualisation of visual vs proprioceptive information processing in the rubber hand illusion and in visuomotor adaptation. Together, the reviewed literature suggests that proprioception, despite its indisputable importance for body perception and action control, can be attenuated top-down (through precision control) to facilitate the contextual adaptation of the brain’s body model to novel visual feedback.

Keywords

Attention
Attenuation
Body representation
Multisensory integration
Precision

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