Time-Dependent Effects of Kinesthetic Input

Abstract

Sensory input can be used by the nervous system to control the spatial parameters of motor responses (e.g., distance, velocity, and direction) by initializing these parameters before movement onset and then by adjusting these parameters during movement. Sensory input can also be used to trigger movements. In the experiments reported in this paper, we compared the effects of kinesthetic input on a triggered motor response when the kinesthetic input was generated at different times relative to the onset of the motor response. Human subjects responded to a visual stimulus by intentionally increasing elbow torque to a target level. Kinesthetic input was generated by unexpectedly rotating each subject's elbow 100 ms before the onset of the intentional torque response (early) or coincident with the onset of the intentional torque response (late). The effect of early kinesthetic input on the intentional torque response markedly differed from the effect of late kinesthetic input. The effect of early kinesthetic input was relatively independent of the direction of elbow rotation, had a different dependence on the amplitude of rotation, and required a shorter duration of rotation compared to the effect of late kinesthetic input. These differences in the effects of early and late kinesthetic input might be related to the initialization, triggering, and adjustment of motor responses.

Temporal features of human tendon vibration illusions

“…A 0.3‐s time‐constant for temporal resolution may seem surprisingly slow, given that proprioceptive input is considered important for skilled motor control, over timescales of around 100 ms (Cordo & Flanders, ). However, our estimate is in line with a previous study of the latency of illusion onset, which reported changes in position sense in the range 0.3–1 s after vibration onset (Goodwin et al ., ).…”

Neurocognitive Mechanisms of Error-Based Motor Learning

“…For example, Smith et al (2000) report that reaching movements of HD patients begin to become irregular 200–300 ms after movement onset, potentially reflecting a deficit in correcting planning errors. Because corrective actions based on visual (Wolpert et al 1995) and proprioceptive (Cordo and Flanders 1990) information acquired during reaching movements began to take place at about the time at which HD patients’ movements become irregular, the authors suggest that the system that generates these corrective actions is disturbed. In other words, the movement errors seen in HD patients by Smith et al (2000) might be part of a more general deficit in action planning and selection as opposed to errors in execution or incorporating task feedback.…”

Progress in Motor Control

“…For more complex computational models of the basal ganglia focusing on action selection and the interactions between multiple corticostriatal circuits, we refer readers to a recent issue of Current Opinion in Neurobiology (e.g., Frank 2011; Ito and Doya 2011; and van der Meer and Redish 2011). Because corrective actions based on visual (Wolpert et al 1995) and proprioceptive (Cordo and Flanders 1990) information acquired during reaching movements began to take place at about the time at which HD patients' movements become irregular, the authors suggest that the system that generates these corrective actions is disturbed. One is an error in motor planning and the other is an error in motor execution.…”