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Isometric exertion by the human wrist: Force trajectories with and without visual target

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Abstract

Force trajectories generated during human wrist flexing exertion was investigated under isometric conditions, and the corresponding EMG activity of forearm muscles was analyzed. An exertion of 50 N was developed by test subjects after a signal was sounded and a target level and force trajectory were either shown or not shown on a television screen. The force trajectories performed under conditions of visual control with presence of images (VC), under conditions of exertion "by memory" in the absence of target level images (KC, for kinesthetic control), and during random alteration of these two performance modes, (VC, KC)r, were compared. The latent periods for emergence of EMG flexion activity were shown to be approximately the same for VC and KC modes and noticeably longer for (VC, KC)r modes. As compared with VC mode performances, during KC mode performances the relative error for attainment of a given exertion and the duration of force trajectory late components were increased, while during (VC, KC)r mode performances the time interval between EMG emergence and initiation of force trajectory was increased; moreover, a significant correlational association between this interval and the time of an increase in the exertion rate was noted. Some hypotheses regarding formation of different force trajectory correction strategies for the different test conditions are proposed.

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Authors
  1. B. Ya. Pyatigorskii
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  2. A. É. Ivanov
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Additional information

A. A. Bogomolets Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Kiev. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 25–34, January–February, 1991.

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Pyatigorskii, B.Y., Ivanov, A.É. Isometric exertion by the human wrist: Force trajectories with and without visual target. Neurophysiology 23, 20–28 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01052285

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01052285

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