Contribution of execution noise to arm movement variability in three-dimensional space

2012 ◽  
Vol 107 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory A. Apker ◽  
Christopher A. Buneo

Reaching movements are subject to noise associated with planning and execution, but precisely how these noise sources interact to determine patterns of endpoint variability in three-dimensional space is not well understood. For frontal plane movements, variability is largest along the depth axis (the axis along which visual planning noise is greatest), with execution noise contributing to this variability along the movement direction. Here we tested whether these noise sources interact in a similar way for movements directed in depth. Subjects performed sequences of two movements from a single starting position to targets that were either both contained within a frontal plane (“frontal sequences”) or where the first was within the frontal plane and the second was directed in depth (“depth sequences”). For both sequence types, movements were performed with or without visual feedback of the hand. When visual feedback was available, endpoint distributions for frontal and depth sequences were generally anisotropic, with the principal axes of variability being strongly aligned with the depth axis. Without visual feedback, endpoint distributions for frontal sequences were relatively isotropic and movement direction dependent, while those for depth sequences were similar to those with visual feedback. Overall, the results suggest that in the presence of visual feedback, endpoint variability is dominated by uncertainty associated with planning and updating visually guided movements. In addition, the results suggest that without visual feedback, increased uncertainty in hand position estimation effectively unmasks the effect of execution-related noise, resulting in patterns of endpoint variability that are highly movement direction dependent.

2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (5) ◽  
pp. 2654-2666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory A. Apker ◽  
Timothy K. Darling ◽  
Christopher A. Buneo

Reaching movements are subject to noise in both the planning and execution phases of movement production. The interaction of these noise sources during natural movements is not well understood, despite its importance for understanding movement variability in neurologically intact and impaired individuals. Here we examined the interaction of planning and execution related noise during the production of unconstrained reaching movements. Subjects performed sequences of two movements to targets arranged in three vertical planes separated in depth. The starting position for each sequence was also varied in depth with the target plane; thus required movement sequences were largely contained within the vertical plane of the targets. Each final target in a sequence was approached from two different directions, and these movements were made with or without visual feedback of the moving hand. These combined aspects of the design allowed us to probe the interaction of execution and planning related noise with respect to reach endpoint variability. In agreement with previous studies, we found that reach endpoint distributions were highly anisotropic. The principal axes of movement variability were largely aligned with the depth axis, i.e., the axis along which visual planning related noise would be expected to dominate, and were not generally well aligned with the direction of the movement vector. Our results suggest that visual planning–related noise plays a dominant role in determining anisotropic patterns of endpoint variability in three-dimensional space, with execution noise adding to this variability in a movement direction-dependent manner.


2013 ◽  
Vol 109 (7) ◽  
pp. 1890-1899 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. van der Kooij ◽  
E. Brenner ◽  
R. J. van Beers ◽  
W. D. Schot ◽  
J. B. J. Smeets

Does the nervous system continuously realign the senses so that objects are seen and felt in the same place? Conflicting answers to this question have been given. Research imposing a sensory mismatch has provided evidence that the nervous system realigns the senses to reduce the mismatch. Other studies have shown that when subjects point with the unseen hand to visual targets, their end points show visual-proprioceptive biases that do not disappear after episodes of visual feedback. These biases are indicative of intersensory mismatches that the nervous system does not align for. Here, we directly compare how the nervous system deals with natural and imposed mismatches. Subjects moved a hand-held cube to virtual cubes appearing at pseudorandom locations in three-dimensional space. We alternated blocks in which subjects moved without visual feedback of the hand with feedback blocks in which we rendered a cube representing the hand-held cube. In feedback blocks, we rotated the visual feedback by 5° relative to the subject's head, creating an imposed mismatch between vision and proprioception on top of any natural mismatches. Realignment occurred quickly but was incomplete. We found more realignment to imposed mismatches than to natural mismatches. We propose that this difference is related to the way in which the visual information changed when subjects entered the experiment: the imposed mismatches were different from the mismatch in daily life, so alignment started from scratch, whereas the natural mismatches were not imposed by the experimenter, so subjects are likely to have entered the experiment partly aligned.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 1081-1100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Giorgio

A nonlinear model for the dynamics of a Kirchhoff rod in the three-dimensional space is developed in the framework of a discrete elastic theory. The formulation avoids the use of Euler angles for the orientation of the rod cross-sections to provide a computationally singularity-free parameterization of rotations along the motion trajectories. The material directions related to the principal axes of the cross-sections are specified using auxiliary points that must satisfy constraints enforced by the Lagrange multipliers method. A generalization of this approach is presented to take into account Poisson’s effect in an orthotropic rod. Numerical simulations are performed to test the presented formulation.


1997 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 176-178
Author(s):  
Frank O'Brien

The author's population density index ( PDI) model is extended to three-dimensional distributions. A derived formula is presented that allows for the calculation of the lower and upper bounds of density in three-dimensional space for any finite lattice.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jumpei Morimoto ◽  
Yasuhiro Fukuda ◽  
Takumu Watanabe ◽  
Daisuke Kuroda ◽  
Kouhei Tsumoto ◽  
...  

<div> <div> <div> <p>“Peptoids” was proposed, over decades ago, as a term describing analogs of peptides that exhibit better physicochemical and pharmacokinetic properties than peptides. Oligo-(N-substituted glycines) (oligo-NSG) was previously proposed as a peptoid due to its high proteolytic resistance and membrane permeability. However, oligo-NSG is conformationally flexible and is difficult to achieve a defined shape in water. This conformational flexibility is severely limiting biological application of oligo-NSG. Here, we propose oligo-(N-substituted alanines) (oligo-NSA) as a new peptoid that forms a defined shape in water. A synthetic method established in this study enabled the first isolation and conformational study of optically pure oligo-NSA. Computational simulations, crystallographic studies and spectroscopic analysis demonstrated the well-defined extended shape of oligo-NSA realized by backbone steric effects. The new class of peptoid achieves the constrained conformation without any assistance of N-substituents and serves as an ideal scaffold for displaying functional groups in well-defined three-dimensional space, which leads to effective biomolecular recognition. </p> </div> </div> </div>


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document