Physiological basis of limb-impedance modulation during free and constrained movements

Journal of Neurophysiology
Loïc Damm, Joseph McIntyre

Abstract

Arm stiffness is a critical factor underlying stable interactions with the environment. When the hand moves freely through space, a stiff limb would most effectively maintain the hand on the desired path in the face of external perturbations. Conversely, when constrained by a rigid surface, a compliant limb would allow the surface to guide the hand while minimizing variations in contact forces. We aimed to identify the physiological basis of stiffness adaptation for these two classes of movement. Stiffness can be regulated by two mechanisms: coactivation of antagonistic muscles and modulation of reflex gains. We hypothesized that subjects would select high stiffness (high coactivation and/or reflex gains) in free space and high compliance (low coactivation and reflex gains) for constrained movements. We measured EMG and the H-reflex during constrained and unconstrained movement of the wrist. As predicted, subjects coactivated antagonist muscles more when performing the unconstrained movement. Contrary to our hypothesis, however, H-reflex amplitude was higher for the constrained movement despite the a priori preference for lower reflex gains in this situation. In addition, the H-reflex depended on the task and the net force exer...Continue Reading

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Citations

Mar 23, 2011·Experimental Brain Research·Norman Holl, Volker Zschorlich
Aug 19, 2011·Journal of Neurophysiology·Abdelhamid KadiallahEtienne Burdet
Oct 9, 2009·The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience·Luc P J SelenDaniel M Wolpert
Nov 26, 2015·Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience·Maura CasadioFerdinando A Mussa-Ivaldi
Apr 11, 2015·Frontiers in Human Neuroscience·Michele TagliabueMarc A Maier
Apr 25, 2019·Journal of Neurophysiology·Meghan E HuberNeville Hogan
Jul 12, 2013·Journal of Neurophysiology·Tricia L GiboAllison M Okamura
Jun 27, 2019·Journal of Neurophysiology·Scott D Kennedy, Andrew B Schwartz

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