Abstract
To determine the potential differences in control underlying compensatory and voluntary reach-to-grasp movements the current study compared the kinematic and electromyographic profiles associated with upper limb movement. Postural perturbations were delivered to evoke compensatory reach-to-grasp in ten healthy young adult volunteers while seated on a chair that tilted as an inverted pendulum in the frontal plane. Participants reached to grasp a laterally positioned stable handhold and pulled (or pushed) to return the chair to vertical. The distinguishing characteristic between the two behaviors was the onset latency and speed of movement. Consistent with compensatory balance reactions, the perturbation-evoked reach response was initiated very rapidly (137 vs. 239 ms for voluntary). As well the movement time was shorter, and peak velocity was greater for PERT movements. In spite of the profound differences in timing, the sequence of muscle activity onsets and the order of specific kinematic events were not different between maximum velocity voluntary (VOL) and perturbation-evoked (PERT) reach-to-grasp movements. Peak velocity and grasp aperture occurred prior to hand contact with the target for PERT and VOL movements, and wrist trajectory was influenced by the direction of perturbation relative to the target. To achieve such target specific control for responses initiated within 100 ms of the perturbation, and when characteristics of body movement were unpredictable, the perturbation-evoked movements would need to incorporate sensory cues associated with body movement relative to the target into the earliest aspects of the movement. This suggests reliance on an internal spatial map constructed prior to the onset of perturbation. Parallels in electromyographic and kinematic profiles between compensatory and voluntary reach-to-grasp movements, in spite of temporal differences, lead to the view they are controlled by common neural mechanisms.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adkin AL, Quant S, Maki BE, McIlroy WE (2006) Cortical responses associated with predictable and unpredictable compensatory balance reactions. Exp Brain Res (Epub ahead of print)
Allum JH, Carpenter MG, Honegger F, Adkin AL, Bloem BR (2002) Age-dependent variations in the directional sensitivity of balance corrections and compensatory arm movements in man. J Physiol 542:643–663
Bateni H, Zecevic A, McIlroy WE, Maki BE (2004) Resolving conflicts in task demands during balance recovery: does holding an object inhibit compensatory grasping? Exp Brain Res 157:49–58
Bothner KE, Jensen JL (2001) How do non-muscular torques contribute to the kinetics of postural recovery following a support surface translation? J Biomech 34:245–250
Brauer SG, Woollacott M, Shumway-Cook A (2002) The influence of a concurrent cognitive task on the compensatory stepping response to a perturbation in balance-impaired and healthy elders. Gait Posture 15:83–93
Burnod Y, Baraduc P, Battaglia-Mayer A, Guigon E, Koechlin E, Ferraina S, Lacquaniti F, Caminiti R (1999) Parieto-frontal coding of reaching: an integrated framework. Exp Brain Res 129:325–346
Carpenter MG, Allum JH, Honegger F (2001) Vestibular influences on human postural control in combinations of pitch and roll planes reveal differences in spatiotemporal processing. Exp Brain Res 140:95–111
Castiello U (2005) The neuroscience of grasping. Nat Rev Neurosci 6:726–736
Crawford JD, Medendorp WP, Marotta JJ (2004) Spatial transformations for eye-hand coordination. J Neurophysiol 92:10–19
Day BL, Lyon IN (2000) Voluntary modification of automatic arm movements evoked by motion of a visual target. Exp Brain Res 130:159–168
Elger K, Wing A, Gilles M (1999) Integration of the hand in postural reactions to sustained sideways force at the pelvis. Exp Brain Res 128:52–60
Fan J, He J, Tillery SI (2005) Control of hand orientation and arm movement during reach and grasp. Exp Brain Res (in press):1–14
Ghafouri M, McIlroy WE, Maki BE (2004) Initiation of rapid reach-and-grasp balance reactions: is a pre-formed visuospatial map used in controlling the initial arm trajectory? Exp Brain Res 155:532–536
Gruneberg C, Duysens J, Honegger F, Allum JH (2005) Spatio-temporal separation of roll and pitch balance-correcting commands in humans. J Neurophysiol 94:3143–3158
Hu Y, Osu R, Okada M, Goodale MA, Kawato M (2005) A model of the coupling between grip aperture and hand transport during human prehension. Exp Brain Res 167:301–304
Inglis JT, Horak FB, Shupert CL, Jones-Rycewicz C (1994) The importance of somatosensory information in triggering and scaling automatic postural responses in humans. Exp Brain Res 101:159–64
Jeannerod M (1984) The timing of natural prehension movements. J Mot Behav 16:235–254
Maki BE, McIlroy WE (1997) The role of limb movements in maintaining upright stance: the “change-in-support” strategy. Phys Ther 77:488–507
Maki BE, McIlroy WE, Perry SD (1996) Influence of lateral destabilization on compensatory stepping responses. J Biomech 29:343–353
Maki BE, Edmondstone MA, McIlroy WE (2000) Age-related differences in laterally directed compensatory stepping behavior. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 55:M270–277
Maki BE, McIlroy WE, Fernie GR (2003) Change-in-support reactions for balance recovery. IEEE Eng Med Biol Mag 22:20–26
McIlroy WE, Maki BE (1993) Do anticipatory postural adjustments precede compensatory stepping reactions evoked by perturbation? Neurosci Lett 164:199–202
McIlroy WE, Maki BE (1995) Early activation of arm muscles follows external perturbation of upright stance. Neurosci Lett 184:177–180
Mon-Williams M, Tresilian JR, Coppard VL, Carson RG (2001) The effect of obstacle position on reach-to-grasp movements. Exp Brain Res 137:497–501
Quant S, Adkin AL, Staines WR, McIlroy WE (2004) Cortical activation following a balance disturbance. Exp Brain Res 155:393–400
Sibley KM, Zabjek KF, Camilleri JM, McIlroy WE (2006) Effects of perturbation amplitude on cortical potentials evoked by whole-body perturbations. The international congress on gait and mental function: book of abstracts, Madrid, Spain, pp 50
Szturm T, Fallang B (1998) Effects of varying acceleration of platform translation and toes-up rotations on the pattern and magnitude of balance reactions in humans. J Vestib Res 8:381–397
Timmann D, Stelmach GE, Bloedel JR (1996) Temporal control of the reach and grip components during a prehension task in humans. Neurosci Lett 207:133–136
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by funding from the following agencies: NSERC (WE McIlroy), Ontario Ministry of Health and Toronto Rehabilitation Institute (WH Gage, SW Hill), Heart and Stroke Foundation Centre for Stroke Recovery (WE McIlroy), and Fonds de la recherché en Santé Québec (Post-Doctoral Fellowship, FRSQ; KF Zabjek).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gage, W.H., Zabjek, K.F., Hill, S.W. et al. Parallels in control of voluntary and perturbation-evoked reach-to-grasp movements: EMG and kinematics. Exp Brain Res 181, 627–637 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-007-0959-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-007-0959-3