Sensory Feedback Loops

The sensorimotor system is a feedback loop.

Our nervous system continuously integrates sensory information from multiple modalities (vision, orientation, sensory, sound, etc.) to perceive the environment. Subsequent motor actions change sensory input, and the cycle continues. Without feedback, successful motor behavior is not possible.

Under the surface, the sensorimotor system must first reconcile inputs with predicted feedback generated by our own behaviors. Impairments in sensory inputs or sensory weighting (e.g., visual dependence) may influence the accuracy of this distinction, and are the basis of claims that sensory and motor prediction errors contribute to ACL injury. 

Ever missed your mouth when taking a drink? Or tripped walking over flat ground? Slight prediction errors happen even in healthy systems.

When considering how individual variability and impairments might influence sensorimotor feedback loops, intra-personnel coordination (i.e., the ability to control our body’s in space) becomes just as complex as the dynamics of sport.

Clinical tip: We learn movements best with continuous real-time feedback from our own sensory systems.

Not learning quickly? Simplify, by cueing the patient to pay more attention to some features of the task than others.