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Automatic avoidance of obstacles is a dorsal stream function: evidence from optic ataxia

Nature Neuroscience volume 7, pages 779–784 (2004)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 September 2004

Abstract

When we reach out to pick something up, our arm is directed to the target by visuomotor networks in the cortical dorsal stream. However, our reach trajectories are influenced also by nontarget objects, which might be construed as potential obstacles. We tested two patients with bilateral dorsal-stream (parietal lesions, both of whom were impaired at pointing to visual stimuli (optic ataxia). We asked them to reach between two cylinders, which varied in location from trial to trial. We found that the patients' reaches remained invariant with changes in obstacle location. In a control task when they were asked to point midway between the two objects, however, their responses shifted in an orderly fashion. We conclude that the dorsal stream provides the visual guidance we automatically build into our movements to avoid potential obstacles, as well as that required to ensure arrival at the target.

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Figure 1: Plan view of the apparatus used in the experiment.
Figure 2: Mean responses in the reaching task (a) and bisection task (b).
Figure 3: Mean trajectories of reaching (a–c) and bisection (d–f) movements made by the two patients, shown separately for each of the 4 different cylinder arrangements A, B, C and D (see Fig. 2).
Figure 4: 'Weightings' given to the two cylinders.
Figure 5: Axial slices through the parietal lesions of patient A.T. (a) and patient I.G. (b).

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank patients A.T. and I.G. for their patience and cooperation. They also thank the Medical Research Council (Co-operative Group grant no. G0000003), the Leverhulme Trust (Research Interchange grant no. F/00128/O), and Programme Hospitalier de Recherche Clinique (PHRC) from the French Ministry of Health, for their financial support of this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Wolfson Research Institute, University of Durham, Queen's Campus, Stockton-on-Tees, TS17 6BH, UK

    Igor Schindler, Nichola J Rice, Robert D McIntosh & A David Milner

  2. Espace et Action, UMR INSERM Unité 534–Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, Bron, France

    Yves Rossetti & Alain Vighetto

  3. Institut Fédératif des Neurosciences de Lyon (IFNL) INSERM, Lyon, France

    Yves Rossetti & Alain Vighetto

Authors
  1. Igor Schindler
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  2. Nichola J Rice
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  3. Robert D McIntosh
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  4. Yves Rossetti
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  6. A David Milner
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Correspondence to A David Milner.

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Schindler, I., Rice, N., McIntosh, R. et al. Automatic avoidance of obstacles is a dorsal stream function: evidence from optic ataxia. Nat Neurosci 7, 779–784 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1273

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