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Perturbation-induced fast drifts in finger enslaving

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Abstract

We explored changes in finger forces and in an index of unintentional finger force production (enslaving) under a variety of visual feedback conditions and positional finger perturbations. In particular, we tested a hypothesis that enslaving would show a consistent increase with time at characteristic times of about 1–2 s. Young healthy subjects performed accurate force production tasks under visual feedback on the total force of the instructed fingers (index and ring) or enslaved fingers (middle and little). Finger feedback was covertly alternated between master and enslaved fingers in a random fashion. The feedback could be presented over the first 5 s of the trial only or over the whole trial duration (21 s). After 5 s, the fingers were lifted by 1 cm, and after 15 s, the fingers were lowered to the initial position. The force of the instructed fingers drifted toward lower magnitudes in all conditions except the one with continuous feedback on that force. The force of enslaved fingers showed variable behavior across conditions. In all conditions, the index of enslaving showed a consistent increase with the time constant varying between 1 and 3 s. We interpret the results as pointing at the spread of excitation to enslaved fingers (possibly, in the cortical M1 areas). The relatively fast changes in enslaving under positional finger perturbations suggest that quick changes of the input into M1 from pre-M1 areas can accelerate the hypothesized spread of cortical excitation.

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Data availability statement

The original data are available from the corresponding author at a reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Kinesiology, The Pennsylvania State University, Rec.Hall-267, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Joseph Ricotta, Cristian Cuadra, Jacob S. Evans & Mark L. Latash

  2. Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Division of Physical Therapy, Emory University, 30332, Atlanta, GA, Georgia

    Cristian Cuadra

  3. Facultad de Ciencias de La Rehabilitación, Escuela Kinesiología, Universidad Andres Bello, Calle Quillota 980, Viña del Mar, Santiago, Chile

    Cristian Cuadra

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  1. Joseph Ricotta
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  2. Cristian Cuadra
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Correspondence to Mark L. Latash.

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Communicated by Francesco Lacquaniti.

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Ricotta, J., Cuadra, C., Evans, J.S. et al. Perturbation-induced fast drifts in finger enslaving. Exp Brain Res 239, 891–902 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-020-06027-y

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