Coordinated Turn-and-Reach Movements. I. Anticipatory Compensation for Self-Generated Coriolis and Interaction Torques

2003 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 276-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascale Pigeon ◽  
Simone B. Bortolami ◽  
Paul DiZio ◽  
James R. Lackner

When reaching movements involve simultaneous trunk rotation, additional interaction torques are generated on the arm that are absent when the trunk is stable. To explore whether the CNS compensates for such self-generated interaction torques, we recorded hand trajectories in reaching tasks involving various amplitudes and velocities of arm extension and trunk rotation. Subjects pointed to three targets on a surface slightly above waist level. Two of the target locations were chosen so that a similar arm configuration relative to the trunk would be required for reaching to them, one of these targets requiring substantial trunk rotation, the other very little. Significant trunk rotation was necessary to reach the third target, but the arm's radial distance to the body remained virtually unchanged. Subjects reached at two speeds—a natural pace (slow) and rapidly (fast)—under normal lighting and in total darkness. Trunk angular velocity and finger velocity relative to the trunk were higher in the fast conditions but were not affected by the presence or absence of vision. Peak trunk velocity increased with increasing trunk rotation up to a maximum of 200°/s. In slow movements, peak finger velocity relative to the trunk was smaller when trunk rotation was necessary to reach the targets. In fast movements, peak finger velocity was ∼1.7 m/s for all targets. Finger trajectories were more curved when reaching movements involved substantial trunk rotation; however, the terminal errors and the maximal deviation of the trajectory from a straight line were comparable in slow and fast movements. This pattern indicates that the larger Coriolis, centripetal, and inertial interaction torques generated during rapid reaches were compensated by additional joint torques. Trajectory characteristics did not vary with the presence or absence of vision, indicating that visual feedback was unnecessary for anticipatory compensations. In all reaches involving trunk rotation, the finger movement generally occurred entirely during the trunk movement, indicating that the CNS did not minimize Coriolis forces incumbent on trunk rotation by sequencing the arm and trunk motions into a turn followed by a reach. A simplified model of the arm/trunk system revealed that additional interaction torques generated on the arm during voluntary turning and reaching were equivalent to ≤1.8 g (1 g = 9.81 m/s2) of external force at the elbow but did not degrade performance. In slow-rotation room studies involving reaching movements during passive rotation, Coriolis forces as small as 0.2 g greatly deflect movement trajectories and endpoints. We conclude that compensatory motor innervations are engaged in a predictive fashion to counteract impending self-generated interaction torques during voluntary reaching movements.

1997 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 303-310
Author(s):  
James R. Lackner ◽  
Paul DiZio

The reafference model has frequently been used to explain spatial constancy during eye and head movements. We have found that its basic concepts also form part of the information processing necessary for the control and recalibration of reaching movements. Reaching was studied in a novel force environment–a rotating room that creates centripetal forces of the type that could someday substitute for gravity in space flight, and Coriolis forces which are side effects of rotation. We found that inertial, noncontacting Coriolis forces deviate the path and endpoint of reaching movements, a finding that shows the inadequacy of equilibrium position models of movement control. Repeated movements in the rotating room quickly lead to normal movement patterns and to a failure to perceive the perturbing forces. The first movements made after rotation stops, without Coriolis forces present, show mirror-image deviations and evoke perception of a perturbing force even though none is present. These patterns of sensorimotor control and adaptation can largely be explained on the basis of comparisons of efference copy, reafferent muscle spindle, and cutaneous mechanoreceptor signals. We also describe experiments on human iocomotion using an apparatus similar to that which Mittelstaedt used to study the optomotor response of the Eristalis fly. These results show that the reafference principle relates as well to the perception of the forces acting on and exerted by the body during voluntary locomotion.


1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 299-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Lackner ◽  
P. Dizio

1. Forward reaching movements made during body rotation generate tangential Coriolis forces that are proportional to the cross product of the angular velocity of rotation and the linear velocity of the arm. Coriolis forces are inertial forces that do not involve mechanical contact. Virtually no constant centrifugal forces will be present in the background when motion of the arm generates transient Coriolis forces if the radius of body rotation is small. 2. We measured the trajectories of arm movements made in darkness to a visual target that was extinguished as movement began. The reaching movements were made prerotation, during rotation at 10 rpm in a fully enclosed rotating room, and postrotation. During testing the subject was seated at the center of the room and pointed radially. Neither visual nor tactile feedback about movement accuracy was present. 3. In experiment 1, subjects reached at a fast or slow rate and their hands made contact with a horizontal surface at the end of the reach. Their initial perrotary movements were highly significantly deviated relative to prerotation in both trajectories and end-points in the direction of the transient Coriolis forces that had been generated during the reaches. Despite the absence of visual and tactile feedback about reaching accuracy, all subjects rapidly regained straight movement trajectories and accurate endpoints. Postrotation, transient errors of opposite sign were present for both trajectories and endpoints. 4. In a second experiment the conditions were identical except that subjects pointed just above the location of the extinguished target so that no surface contact was involved. All subjects showed significant initial perrotation deviations of trajectories and endpoints in the direction of the transient Coriolis forces. With repeated reaches the trajectories, as viewed from above, again became straight, but there was only partial restoration of endpoint accuracy, so that subjects reached in a straight line to the wrong place. Aftereffects of opposite sign were transiently present in the postrotary movements. 5. These observations fail to support current equilibrium point models, both alpha and lambda, of movement control. Such theories would not predict endpoint errors under our experimental conditions, in which the Coriolis force is absent at the beginning and end of a movement. Our results indicate that detailed aspects of movement trajectory are being continuously monitored on the basis of proprioceptive feedback in relation to motor commands. Adaptive compensations can be initiated after one perturbation despite the absence of either visual or tactile feedback about movement trajectory and endpoint error. Moreover, movement trajectory and end-point can be remapped independently.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


2013 ◽  
Vol 110 (6) ◽  
pp. 1370-1384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascale Pigeon ◽  
Paul DiZio ◽  
James R. Lackner

We have previously shown that the Coriolis torques that result when an arm movement is performed during torso rotation do not affect movement trajectory. Our purpose in the present study was to examine whether torso motion-induced Coriolis and other interaction torques are counteracted during a turn and reach (T&R) movement when the effective mass of the hand is augmented, and whether the dominant arm has an advantage in coordinating intersegmental dynamics as predicted by the dynamic dominance hypothesis (Sainburg RL. Exp Brain Res 142: 241–258, 2002). Subjects made slow and fast T&R movements in the dark to just extinguished targets with either arm, while holding or not holding a 454-g object. Movement endpoints were equally accurate at both speeds, with either hand, and in both weight conditions, but subjects tended to angularly undershoot and produce more variable endpoints for targets requiring greater torso rotation. There were no changes in endpoint accuracy or trajectory deviation over repeated movements. The dominant right arm was more stable in its control of trajectory direction across targets, whereas the nondominant left arm had an improved ability to stop accurately on the target for higher levels of interaction torques. The trajectories to more eccentric targets were straighter when performed at higher speeds but slightly more deviated when subjects held the weight. Subjects did not slow their torso velocity or change the timing of the arm and torso velocities when holding the weight, although there was a slight decrease in their hand velocity relative to the torso. The delay between the onsets of torso and finger movements was almost twice as large for the right arm than the left, suggesting the right arm was better able to account for torso rotation in the arm movement. Holding the weight increased the peak Coriolis torque by 40% at the shoulder and 45% at the elbow and, for the most eccentric target, increased the peak net torque by 12% at the shoulder and 34% at the elbow. In accordance with Sainburg's dynamic dominance hypothesis, the right arm exhibited an advantage for coordinating intersegmental dynamics, showing a more stable finger velocity in relation to the torso across targets, decreasing error variability with movement speed, and more synchronized peaks of finger relative and torso angular velocities in conditions with greater joint torque requirements. The arm used had little effect on the movement path and the magnitude of the joint torques in any of the conditions. These results indicate that compensations for forthcoming Coriolis torque variations take into account the dynamic properties of the body and of external objects, as well as the planned velocities of the torso and arm.


Author(s):  
Rosemary Gallagher ◽  
Stephaine Perez ◽  
Derek DeLuca ◽  
Isaac L. Kurtzer

Reaching movements performed from a crouched body posture require a shift of body weight from both arms to one arm. This situation has remained unexamined despite the analogous load requirements during step initiation and the many studies of reaching from a seated or standing posture. To determine whether the body weight shift involves anticipatory or exclusively reactive control we obtained force plate records, hand kinematics, and arm muscle activity from 11 healthy right-handed participants. They performed reaching movements with their left and right arm in two speed contexts - 'comfortable' and 'as fast as possible' - and two postural contexts - a less stable knees-together posture and more stable knees-apart posture. Weight-shifts involved anticipatory postural actions (APA) by the reaching and stance arms that were opposing in the vertical axis and aligned in the side-to-side axis similar to APAs by the legs for step initiation. Weight-shift APAs were correlated in time and magnitude, present in both speed contexts, more vigorous with the knees placed together, and similar when reaching with the dominant or non-dominant arm. The initial weight-shift was preceded by bursts of muscle activity in the shoulder and elbow extensors (posterior deltoid and triceps lateral) of the reach arm and shoulder flexor (pectoralis major) of the stance arm which indicates their causal role; leg muscles may have indirectly contributed but were not recorded. The strong functional similarity of weight-shift APAs during crouched reaching to human stepping and cats reaching suggests that they are a core feature of posture-movement coordination.


2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Luis F. C. Figueredo ◽  
Rafael De Castro Aguiar ◽  
Lipeng Chen ◽  
Thomas C. Richards ◽  
Samit Chakrabarty ◽  
...  

This work addresses the problem of planning a robot configuration and grasp to position a shared object during forceful human-robot collaboration, such as a puncturing or a cutting task. Particularly, our goal is to find a robot configuration that positions the jointly manipulated object such that the muscular effort of the human, operating on the same object, is minimized while also ensuring the stability of the interaction for the robot. This raises three challenges. First, we predict the human muscular effort given a human-robot combined kinematic configuration and the interaction forces of a task. To do this, we perform task-space to muscle-space mapping for two different musculoskeletal models of the human arm. Second, we predict the human body kinematic configuration given a robot configuration and the resulting object pose in the workspace. To do this, we assume that the human prefers the body configuration that minimizes the muscular effort. And third, we ensure that, under the forces applied by the human, the robot grasp on the object is stable and the robot joint torques are within limits. Addressing these three challenges, we build a planner that, given a forceful task description, can output the robot grasp on an object and the robot configuration to position the shared object in space. We quantitatively analyze the performance of the planner and the validity of our assumptions. We conduct experiments with human subjects to measure their kinematic configurations, muscular activity, and force output during collaborative puncturing and cutting tasks. The results illustrate the effectiveness of our planner in reducing the human muscular load. For instance, for the puncturing task, our planner is able to reduce muscular load by 69.5\% compared to a user-based selection of object poses.


Author(s):  
Ariel B Thomas ◽  
Erienne V Olesh ◽  
Amelia Adcock ◽  
Valeriya Gritsenko

The whole repertoire of complex human motion is enabled by forces applied by our muscles and controlled by the nervous system. The impact of stroke on the complex multi-joint motor control is difficult to quantify in a meaningful way that informs about the underlying deficit in the active motor control and intersegmental coordination. We tested whether post-stroke deficit can be quantified with high sensitivity using motion capture and inverse modeling of a broad range of reaching movements. Our hypothesis is that muscle moments estimated based on active joint torques provide a more sensitive measure of post-stroke motor deficits than joint angles. The motion of twenty-two participants was captured while performing reaching movements in a center-out task, presented in virtual reality. We used inverse dynamics analysis to derive active joint torques that were the result of muscle contractions, termed muscle torques, that caused the recorded multi-joint motion. We then applied a novel analysis to separate the component of muscle torque related to gravity compensation from that related to intersegmental dynamics. Our results show that muscle torques characterize individual reaching movements with higher information content than joint angles do. Moreover, muscle torques enable distinguishing the individual motor deficits caused by aging or stroke from the typical differences in reaching between healthy individuals. Similar results were obtained using metrics derived from joint accelerations. This novel quantitative assessment method may be used in conjunction with home-based gaming motion-capture technology for remote monitoring of motor deficits and inform the development of evidence-based robotic therapy interventions.


2021 ◽  
pp. 11-30
Author(s):  
Anna M. Kamelska-Sadowska ◽  
Halina Protasiewicz-Faldowska ◽  
Lidia Zakrzewska ◽  
Katarzyna Zaborowska-Sapeta ◽  
Jacek J. Nowakowski ◽  
...  

1999 ◽  
Vol 81 (5) ◽  
pp. 2582-2586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiisa C. Nishikawa ◽  
Sara T. Murray ◽  
Martha Flanders

Do arm postures vary with the speed of reaching? For reaching movements in one plane, the hand has been observed to follow a similar path regardless of speed. Recent work on the control of more complex reaching movements raises the question of whether a similar “speed invariance” also holds for the additional degrees of freedom. Therefore we examined human arm movements involving initial and final hand locations distributed throughout the three-dimensional (3D) workspace of the arm. Despite this added complexity, arm kinematics (summarized by the spatial orientation of the “plane of the arm” and the 3D curvature of the hand path) changed very little for movements performed over a wide range of speeds. If the total force (dynamic + quasistatic) had been optimized by the control system (e.g., as in a minimization of the change in joint torques or the change in muscular forces), the optimal solution would change with speed; slow movements would reflect the minimal antigravity torques, whereas fast movements would be more strongly influenced by dynamic factors. The speed-invariant postures observed in this study are instead consistent with a hypothesized optimization of only the dynamic forces.


2001 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 784-789 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul DiZio ◽  
James R. Lackner

When reaching movements are made during passive constant velocity body rotation, inertial Coriolis accelerations are generated that displace both movement paths and endpoints in their direction. These findings directly contradict equilibrium point theories of movement control. However, it has been argued that these movement errors relate to subjects sensing their body rotation through continuing vestibular activity and making corrective movements. In the present study, we evaluated the reaching movements of five labyrinthine-defective subjects (lacking both semicircular canal and otolith function) who cannot sense passive body rotation in the dark and five age-matched, normal control subjects. Each pointed 40 times in complete darkness to the location of a just extinguished visual target before, during, and after constant velocity rotation at 10 rpm in the center of a fully enclosed slow rotation room. All subjects, including the normal controls, always felt completely stationary when making their movements. During rotation, both groups initially showed large deviations of their movement paths and endpoints in the direction of the transient Coriolis forces generated by their movements. With additional per-rotation movements, both groups showed complete adaptation of movement curvature (restoration of straight-line reaches) during rotation. The labyrinthine-defective subjects, however, failed to regain fully accurate movement endpoints after 40 reaches, unlike the control subjects who did so within 11 reaches. Postrotation, both groups' movements initially had mirror image curvatures to their initial per-rotation reaches; the endpoint aftereffects were significantly different from prerotation baseline for the control subjects but not for the labyrinthine-defective subjects reflecting the smaller amount of endpoint adaptation they achieved during rotation. The labyrinthine-defective subjects' movements had significantly lower peak velocity, higher peak elevation, lower terminal velocity, and a more vertical touchdown than those of the control subjects. Thus the way their reaches terminated denied them the somatosensory contact cues necessary for full endpoint adaptation. These findings fully contradict equilibrium point theories of movement control. They emphasize the importance of contact cues in adaptive movement control and indicate that movement errors generated by Coriolis perturbations of limb movements reveal characteristics of motor planning and adaptation in both healthy and clinical populations.


1997 ◽  
Vol 78 (6) ◽  
pp. 2985-2998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald L. Gottlieb ◽  
Qilai Song ◽  
Gil L. Almeida ◽  
Di-An Hong ◽  
Daniel Corcos

Gottlieb, Gerald L., Qilai Song, Gil L. Almeida, Di-an Hong, and Daniel Corcos. Directional control of planar human arm movement. J. Neurophysiol. 78: 2985–2998, 1997. We examined the patterns of joint kinematics and torques in two kinds of sagittal plane reaching movements. One consisted of movements from a fixed initial position with the arm partially outstretched, to different targets, equidistant from the initial position and located according to the hours of a clock. The other series added movements from different initial positions and directions and >40–80 cm distances. Dynamic muscle torque was calculated by inverse dynamic equations with the gravitational components removed. In making movements in almost every direction, the dynamic components of the muscle torques at both the elbow and shoulder were related almost linearly to each other. Both were similarly shaped, biphasic, almost synchronous and symmetrical pulses. These findings are consistent with our previously reported observations, which we termed a linear synergy. The relative scaling of the two joint torques changes continuously and regularly with movement direction. This was confirmed by calculating a vector defined by the dynamic components of the shoulder and elbow torques. The vector rotates smoothly about an ellipse in intrinsic, joint torque space as the direction of hand motion rotates about a circle in extrinsic Cartesian space. This confirms a second implication of linear synergy that the scaling constant between the linearly related joint torques is directionally dependent. Multiple linear regression showed that the torque at each joint scales as a simple linear function of the angular displacement at both joints, in spite of the complex nonlinear dynamics of multijoint movement. The coefficients of this function are independent of the initial arm position and movement distance and are the same for all subjects. This is an unanticipated finding. We discuss these observations in terms of the hypothesis that voluntary, multiple degrees of freedom, rapid reaching movements may use rule-based, feed-forward control of dynamic joint torque. Rule-based control of joint torque with separate dynamic and static controllers is an alternative to models such as those based on the equilibrium point hypotheses that rely on a positionally based controller to produce both dynamic and static torque components. It is also an alternative to feed-forward models that directly solve the problems of inverse dynamics. Our experimental findings are not necessarily incompatible with any of the alternative models, but they describe new, additional findings for which we need to account. The rules are chosen by the nervous system according to features of the kinematic task to couple muscle contraction at the shoulder and elbow in a linear synergy. Speed and load control preserves the relative magnitudes of the dynamic torques while directional control is accomplished by modulating them in a differential manner. This control system operates in parallel with a positional control system that solves the problems of postural stability.


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