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Related Experiment Videos

Obstacle avoidance and a perturbation sensitivity model for motor planning

P N Sabes1, M I Jordan

  • 1Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience
|September 15, 1997
PubMed
Summary

Human arm movement planning considers the body's physical properties, not just visual space. This research reveals how the central nervous system (CNS) optimizes reaching trajectories by accounting for biomechanical factors like inertia.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Biomechanics
  • Human Motor Control

Background:

  • Human reaching movements are complex, involving planning and execution.
  • Previous studies suggested movement planning relies solely on visual space kinematics.
  • The role of biomechanical factors in motor planning remained unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether the central nervous system (CNS) plans human reaching movements based on visual space or incorporates biomechanical details.
  • To determine if motor planning optimizes trajectory plans using specific details of the biomechanical system.
  • To explore the influence of obstacle orientation on reaching movement trajectories.

Main Methods:

  • Developed a novel obstacle avoidance paradigm for studying human reaching movements.

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  • Participants performed reaching tasks around a fixed-tip obstacle.
  • Rotated the obstacle, start, and target locations to test for rotational symmetry in movement paths.

    • Main Results:

    • Systematic variations in movement paths were observed despite rotationally symmetric visual task constraints.
    • Observed path asymmetries suggest motor planning accounts for factors beyond visual space.
    • Models incorporating anisotropic arm sensitivity or inertial properties best explained the observed trajectory variations.

    Conclusions:

    • Human arm movement planning is not solely based on visual space kinematics.
    • The CNS incorporates biomechanical details, such as inertial properties, to optimize reaching trajectories and avoid obstacles.
    • Motor control strategies are influenced by the physical characteristics of the musculoskeletal system.