POSTER
Bradly Alicea
Sensorimotor integration is a tightly regulated feedback loop. During real-world action, this loop is rarely decoupled. Yet we can loosen up this feedback loop using the tools of virtual perception. This results in controlled sensorimotor dysregulation: what is highly variable in different disease states are now selectively controlled. The key is to identify systems that are manipulable by virtual environments. Virtual perception can be identified for multiple senses as well as multisensory phenomena. We will discuss temporal decoupling, multisensory decoupling, Sim/delta/Real, and Incongruence. Temporal decoupling is a generic effect across different sensory modalities, multisensory decoupling involves two or more senses, and incongruence is limited to touch. Sim/delta/Real is the distance between the simulated environment and the real world, which is the basis for pulling at our feedback loop. Depending on the types of interventions made, the closed-loop feedback typical of sensorimotor control becomes much more complex. Various psychophysical parameters such as depth, width, and discriminability have special meanings in a virtual environment, distinct from their application in animal perception. The resulting perceptual “gaps” are a feature of control, providing an enriched experience to the individual. As perceptual systems adapt to new environments and undergo evolutionary diversification, we might discover additional attributes of virtual perception.