Modulations of stretch reflex by altering visuomotor contexts

Abstract

Various functional modulations of the stretch reflex help to stabilize actions, but the computational mechanism behind its context-dependent tuning remains unclear. While many studies have demonstrated that motor contexts associated with the task goal cause functional modulation of the stretch reflex of upper limbs, it is not well understood how visual contexts independent of the task requirements affect the stretch reflex. To explore this issue, we conducted two experiments testing 20 healthy human participants (age range 20–45, average 31.3 ± 9.0), in which visual contexts were manipulated in a visually guided reaching task. During wrist flexion movements toward a visual target, a mechanical load was applied to the wrist joint to evoke stretch reflex of wrist flexor muscle (flexor carpi radialis). The first experiment (n = 10) examined the effect of altering the visuomotor transformation on the stretch reflex that was evaluated with surface electromyogram. We found that the amplitude of the stretch reflex decreased (p = 0.024) when a rotational transformation of 90° was introduced between the hand movement and the visual cursor, whereas the amplitude did not significantly change (p = 0.26) when the rotational transformation was accompanied by a head rotation so that the configuration of visual feedback was maintained in visual coordinates. The results suggest that the stretch reflex was regulated depending on whether the visuomotor mapping had already been acquired or not. In the second experiment (n = 10), we examined how uncertainty in the visual target or hand cursor affects the stretch reflex by removing these visual stimuli. We found that the reflex amplitude was reduced by the disappearance of the hand cursor (p = 0.039), but was not affected by removal of the visual target (p = 0.27), suggesting that the visual state of the body and target contribute differently to the reflex tuning. These findings support the idea that visual updating of the body state is crucial for regulation of quick motor control driven by proprioceptive signals.