One brain area, two planning strategies
Thursday, February 26, 2015 - 09:30
in Biology & Nature
Ready to strike, the spear fisherman holds his spear above the water surface. He aims at the fish. But he is misled by the view: Due to the refraction of light on the surface, he does not see the actual location of the fish. How must his brain now plan the arm movement? Do the brain cells (neurons) reflect the position where the fish was spotted, in other words, the visual target? Or do they plan the physical target, which is the actual direction in which the arm and spear should move in order to hit the fish? In new research, investigators tried to answer this question on the different aspects of planning a limb movement.