Somatosensory perception–action binding in Tourette syndrome

Publikation: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftForschungsartikelBeigetragenBegutachtung

Beitragende

  • Julia Friedrich - , Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Universität zu Lübeck, Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein Campus Lübeck (Autor:in)
  • Henriette Spaleck - , Universität zu Lübeck (Autor:in)
  • Ronja Schappert - , Universität zu Lübeck (Autor:in)
  • Maximilian Kleimaker - , Universität zu Lübeck, Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein Campus Lübeck (Autor:in)
  • Julius Verrel - , Universität zu Lübeck (Autor:in)
  • Tobias Bäumer - , Universität zu Lübeck (Autor:in)
  • Christian Beste - , Klinik und Poliklinik für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie (Autor:in)
  • Alexander Münchau - , Universität zu Lübeck (Autor:in)

Abstract

It is a common phenomenon that somatosensory sensations can trigger actions to alleviate experienced tension. Such “urges” are particularly relevant in patients with Gilles de la Tourette (GTS) syndrome since they often precede tics, the cardinal feature of this common neurodevelopmental disorder. Altered sensorimotor integration processes in GTS as well as evidence for increased binding of stimulus- and response-related features (“hyper-binding”) in the visual domain suggest enhanced perception–action binding also in the somatosensory modality. In the current study, the Theory of Event Coding (TEC) was used as an overarching cognitive framework to examine somatosensory-motor binding. For this purpose, a somatosensory-motor version of a task measuring stimulus–response binding (S-R task) was tested using electro-tactile stimuli. Contrary to the main hypothesis, there were no group differences in binding effects between GTS patients and healthy controls in the somatosensory-motor paradigm. Behavioral data did not indicate differences in binding between examined groups. These data can be interpreted such that a compensatory “downregulation” of increased somatosensory stimulus saliency, e.g., due to the occurrence of somatosensory urges and hypersensitivity to external stimuli, results in reduced binding with associated motor output, which brings binding to a “normal” level. Therefore, “hyper-binding” in GTS seems to be modality-specific.

Details

OriginalspracheEnglisch
Aufsatznummer13388
FachzeitschriftScientific reports
Jahrgang11
Ausgabenummer1
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - Dez. 2021
Peer-Review-StatusJa

Externe IDs

PubMed 34183712
ORCID /0000-0002-2989-9561/work/160952350

Schlagworte

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete