Author:
Papaioannou Stylianos,Dimitriou Michael
Abstract
AbstractVoluntary movements are believed to be advantageously prepared before they are executed, but the neural mechanisms at work have been unclear. For example, there are no overt changes in skeletal muscle activity during movement preparation. Here, using a delayed-reach manual task, we demonstrate a decrease in the firing rate of human muscle afferents (primary spindles) when preparing stretch rather than shortening of the spindle-bearing muscle. This goal-dependent modulation of proprioceptors begun early after target onset but was markedly stronger at the latter parts of the preparatory period. In two additional experiments, whole-arm perturbations during reach preparation revealed a congruent modulation of stretch reflex gains of shoulder and upper arm muscles. Our study shows that movement preparation can involve sensory elements of the peripheral nervous system. We suggest that central preparatory activity can also reflect sensory control, and preparatory tuning of muscle spindle mechanoreceptors is a component of planned reaching movements.
Publisher
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Cited by
1 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献