The psychophysical study of kinesthesia based on perceptual integration

Abstract

Kinesthesia is the sense that enables awareness of bodily position, weight, or movement. The perceptual integration of afferent inputs from sensory receptors i.e., muscle spindle or cutaneous, and the efferent inputs from the central nervous system that trigger intentional movement contribute to the generation of kinesthesia. We investigated the mechanism of kinesthesia using the psychophysical index. This paper describes two psychophysical studies : 1) the effect of afferent inputs from muscle spindle on kinesthetic perception during motor imagery, and 2) kinesthetic illusion induced by perceptual integration of proprioception and vision. The results of these studies demonstrate that perceptual integration contributes to kinesthetic perception when the latter is induced by afferent inputs from two antagonistic muscle spindles during motor imagery, or by differing sensory inputs, such as proprioception and vision.