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Rapid goal-directed elbow flexion movements: limitations of the speed control system due to neural constraints
- Source :
- Experimental brain research. 59(3)
- Publication Year :
- 1985
-
Abstract
- In rapid goal-directed elbow flexion movements the influence of both movement amplitude and inertial load on the three-burst pattern and the consequences on movement time were studied. Subjects performed visually guided, self-paced movements as rapidly and as accurately as possible. An increase of both the movement amplitude and the inertial load were found to be interacting factors for the modulation of the three-burst-pattern and movement time. The first biceps burst progressively increased in duration and amplitude for larger movements, resulting in prolonged movement times. Surplus inertial loads further prolonged the agonist burst for large, but not for small movement amplitudes. The activity of the antagonist burst, in contrast, was largest in small movements and successively decreased at increasing movement amplitudes. Its duration, however, remained fairly constant. As was similarly observed for the agonist burst, surplus inertial loads lead to a prolongation of antagonist burst duration and an increase of the activity integral for large, but not for small movement amplitudes. It is suggested that in elbow flexion movements the programming of fastest goal-directed movements must take into account neural constraints and biomechanical characteristics of the agonist muscle and the antagonist muscle. Due to neural constraints of the biceps muscle, in contrast to finger movements, the concept of movement time invariance does not hold for elbow movements. Furthermore, neural constraints of the antagonist muscle lead to a limited force production of the agonist muscle at small movement amplitudes in order to avoid an overload of the braking process. The complexity of the relationship between neural and mechanical factors indicate that the size and timing of the three-burst-pattern has to be subtly adjusted to the precise nature of the task and its biomechanical characteristics.
- Subjects :
- Agonist
Adult
medicine.medical_specialty
Weight Lifting
Computer science
medicine.drug_class
Movement
Elbow
Speed control system
Biceps
050105 experimental psychology
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Physical medicine and rehabilitation
Elbow Joint
medicine
Reaction Time
Humans
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Elbow flexion
Neurons
Movement (music)
Electromyography
General Neuroscience
Muscles
05 social sciences
Anatomy
Middle Aged
Forearm
medicine.anatomical_structure
Duration (music)
Inertial load
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Muscle Contraction
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00144819
- Volume :
- 59
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Experimental brain research
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....352786b6711fe9c64b318b97145a0f46