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Experimental Methods to Study Human Postural Control
Published on: September 11, 2019
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Observing a movement correction during walking affects evoked responses but not unperturbed walking
Frank Behrendt1, Marc H E de Lussanet2, Heiko Wagner1
1Movement Science, Westf. Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany.
Plos One
|August 19, 2014
Summary
Observing actions doesn't automatically trigger imitation. Instead, spinal cord activity during action observation reflects adaptive, predictive motor control, not suppressed imitative responses.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Motor Control
- Human Movement
Background:
- Observing actions activates premotor, motor, and somatosensory cortices.
- Pyramidal neurons projecting to spinal circuits raise questions about automatic imitation.
- Cortical and spinal excitability increase with observed actions, suggesting suppression or sub-threshold activation of imitative motor patterns.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether observing corrective movements suppresses or modulates ongoing actions.
- To determine if spinal activation during action observation is suppressed or at a sub-threshold level.
Main Methods:
- Participants walked on a treadmill while observing someone occasionally stepping over an obstacle.
- Cutaneously evoked reflexes in the anterior tibial and soleus muscles were measured.
Main Results:
- Observed stepping over an obstacle did not alter the participants' normal walking pattern.
- Cutaneously evoked reflexes were modulated, indicating spinal activation consistent with stepping over an obstacle.
- This suggests spinal activation is not suppressed and not at a sub-threshold level.
Conclusions:
- Spinal modulation during action observation is not a byproduct of action understanding.
- It represents an adaptive mechanism for regulating predictive control.
- Spinal excitability during action observation is integral to adaptive and predictive motor control.
