A method to reversibly degrade proprioceptive feedback in research on human motor control

Otmar Bock, Katja Pipereit, Andreas Mierau

Publikation: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschungBegutachtung

13 Quellenangaben (Web of Science)

Abstract

In research on human motor skills, it is often desirable to manipulate proprioceptive feedback in order to determine its contribution towards subjects' performance. Here we evaluate an easy-to-use, non-invasive method to temporarily reduce proprioceptive responsiveness. Two physiotherapy vibrators contacted the distal end of the subjects' forearm on the flexor and extensor side; they were either turned off, or they vibrated at 80 Hz with an amplitude of 1mm. We found that vibration substantially impaired subjects' ability to use their hand in an angle matching, a force production and a haptic shape perception task. We also found that vibration strongly attenuated the H-reflex of the ipsilateral M. flexor carpi radialis. These results suggest that agonist-antagonist vibration is a useful method to degrade proprioceptive responsiveness for research on higher motor functions.
OriginalspracheEnglisch
ZeitschriftJournal of neuroscience methods
Jahrgang160
Ausgabenummer2
Seiten (von - bis)246-250
Seitenumfang5
ISSN0165-0270
DOIs
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - 2007

Fingerprint

Untersuchen Sie die Forschungsthemen von „A method to reversibly degrade proprioceptive feedback in research on human motor control“. Zusammen bilden sie einen einzigartigen Fingerprint.

Zitation