High proprioceptive acuity in slow and fast hand movements

Abstract

We can accurately reach to touch our index fingertip to various points on the body without vision. Awareness of location/motion of the index fingertip and other body parts through proprioception is required for such movements. Proprioception involves processing sensory information, but it is also debated whether internal model estimates of body state from motor commands improve proprioception. We tested the hypothesis that proprioceptive errors increase with increases in speed of hand movement and whether an internal model contributes to more accurate proprioception, especially in higher speed movements. Ten subjects made voluntary reaching movements with their dominant arm to touch its index-tip to the index-tip of the non-dominant arm that was moved passively or actively at three speeds (slow, comfortable, fast) in various directions. Four conditions required the experimenter to passively move the subject’s target arm at slow, comfortable and fast speeds and in different directions. A fifth condition required the subject to actively move both arms to perform the task. Subjects performed these tasks with high accuracy during slow and comfortable speed movements of the target arm. Errors averaged 3.7 mm larger when the target was moved faster and were equivalent to errors for slower movements (p < 0.014). Errors in the active and passive target movement conditions were also equivalent (p < 0.001). These findings show that proprioception is accurate across many different speeds of passive and active target motion and that there was no evidence than an internal model contributes to improved accuracy of proprioception during active movements.