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Activation history and constant errors in human force production.

R S Hutton, R M Enoka, S Suzuki

|July 30, 1984

Summary

Muscle contractions temporarily increase spinal reflex activity, leading to inaccurate force perception. This effect, known as postcontraction potentiation, causes overestimation of effort and resolves within 50 seconds.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Motor Control
Human Physiology

Background:

Spinal proprioceptive reflexes and muscle tension are known to be potentiated after isometric muscle contractions.
The impact of this potentiation on ongoing motor commands and perceived effort is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether postcontraction potentiation of spinal reflexes influences the accuracy of motor commands.
To quantify the duration of altered force perception following maximal isometric contractions.

Main Methods:

Subjects performed isometric muscle contractions followed by a force-matching task.
Force reproduction accuracy was measured immediately after contraction and at intervals up to 50 seconds.
Control measurements were taken after a period of relaxation.

Main Results:

Subjects consistently overestimated the criterion force following maximal contractions.
These overestimations represented significant errors in perceived effort.
The errors gradually diminished, returning to baseline control levels within 50 seconds.

Conclusions:

Transient potentiation of spinal reflex pathways after muscle contraction can bias motor commands.
This potentiation likely sums with existing motor commands, leading to inadvertent errors in perceived effort.
The findings highlight a neural mechanism contributing to inaccuracies in force production following exertion.

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