“Low road” to rehabilitation: a perspective on subliminal sensory neuroprosthetics

Abstract

Fear can propagate parallelly through both cortical and subcortical pathways. It can instigate memory consolidation habitually and might allow internal simulation of movements independent of the cortical structures. This perspective suggests delivery of subliminal, aversive and kinematic audiovisual stimuli via neuroprosthetics in patients with neocortical dysfunctions. We suggest possible scenarios by which these stimuli might bypass damaged neocortical structures and possibly assisting in motor relearning. Anticipated neurophysiological mechanisms and methodological scenarios have been discussed in this perspective. This approach introduces novel perspectives into neuropsychology as to how subcortical pathways might be used to induce motor relearning.

Keywords:

• motor learning
• fear perception
• internal simulation
• sonification
• cortical dysfunctions

Acknowledgments

This article was funded by the open access funds of Leibniz University Hannover. The authors thank Prof Robert Isler and Prof Thomas Münte for their constructive comments and guidance.

Author contributions

Shashank Ghai conceptualized the perspective and wrote the article. Ishan Ghai and Alfred O Effenberg provided useful discussions and reviewed the paper. All authors contributed toward data analysis, drafting and critically revising the paper and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.