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Related Experiment Videos

Control of Trajectory Modifications in Target-Directed Reaching.

J. R. Flanagan1, D. J. Ostry, A. G. Feldman

  • 1M.R.C. Applied Psychology Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge, CB2 2EF, U.K.

Journal of Motor Behavior
|September 1, 1993
PubMed
Summary

This study explored human arm movements using a motor control model. The equilibrium-point (EP) hypothesis suggests movement arises from shifting the arm's EP, with direction specified at the hand level.

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Area of Science:

  • Motor control
  • Biomechanics
  • Human movement science

Background:

  • Human reaching movements are complex, involving coordinated muscle activity.
  • The equilibrium-point (EP) hypothesis offers a framework for understanding motor control by positing that movements result from shifts in the arm's equilibrium position.
  • Investigating the central control signals is crucial for deciphering the neural basis of movement generation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the nature of central control signals during human reaching movements.
  • To compare empirical reaching movements with simulations from a two-joint arm model based on the EP hypothesis.
  • To determine how the direction and rate of EP shifts are specified during reaching to static and dynamic targets.

Main Methods:

Related Experiment Videos

  • Recording human reaching movements to visual targets (fixed and displaced).
  • Utilizing a two-joint arm model based on the equilibrium-point (EP) hypothesis (lambda model) for simulation.
  • Analyzing kinematic patterns of both recorded and simulated movements.

    • Main Results:

    • The EP hypothesis model successfully generated empirical kinematic patterns of reaching movements.
    • The direction of the hand's EP shift appears to be specified at the hand level, adjusting towards the target.
    • The rate of EP shift may be modulated at either the hand or joint level, potentially varying across the workspace.

    Conclusions:

    • A unified mechanism for reaching to both fixed and displaced targets is proposed, involving a straight-line shift of the hand's EP towards the target.
    • The model supports the EP hypothesis, suggesting that simple, time-varying control signals can account for observed movement kinematics.
    • Findings provide insights into the neural control of reaching, differentiating between the specification of EP shift direction and rate.