Braking of fast and accurate elbow flexions in the monkey

The processes responsible for braking fast and accurate elbow movements were studied in the monkey. The movements studied were made over different amplitudes and against different inertias . All were made to the same end position. Only fast movements that showed the typical biphasic or triphasic pattern of activity in agonists and antagonists were analysed in detail. For movements made over different amplitudes and at different velocities there was symmetry between the acceleration and deceleration phases of the movements. For movements of the same amplitude performed at different velocities there was a direct linear relation between peak velocity and both the peak acceleration (and integrated agonist burst) and peak deceleration (and integrated antagonist burst). The slopes of these relations and their intercept with the peak velocity axis were a function of movement amplitude. This was such that for large and small movements of the same peak velocity and the same end position (i) peak acceleration and phasic agonist activity were larger for the small movements and (ii) peak deceleration and phasic antagonist activity were larger for the small movements. The slope of these relations and the symmetry between acceleration and deceleration were not affected by the addition of an inertial load to the handle held by the monkey. The results indicate that fast and accurate elbow movements in the monkey are braked by antagonist activity that is centrally programmed. As all movements were made to the same end position, the larger antagonist burst in small movements, made at the same peak velocity as large movements, cannot be due to differences in the viscoelastic contribution to braking (cf. Marsden, Obeso & Rothwell , 1983).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)