Previous Article | Next Article 
The Journal of Neuroscience, October 1, 1999, 19(19):8573-8588
Electromyographic Correlates of Learning an Internal Model of
Reaching Movements
Kurt A.
Thoroughman and
Reza
Shadmehr
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins School of
Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205-2195
 |
ABSTRACT |
Theoretical and psychophysical studies have suggested that humans
learn to make reaching movements in novel dynamic environments by
building specific internal models (IMs). Here we have found electromyographic correlates of internal model formation. We recorded EMG from four muscles as subjects learned to move a manipulandum that
created systematic forces (a "force field"). We also simulated a
biomechanical controller, which generated movements based on an
adaptive IM of the inverse dynamics of the human arm and the manipulandum. The simulation defined two metrics of muscle activation. The first metric measured the component of the EMG of each muscle that
counteracted the force field. We found that early in training, the
field-appropriate EMG was driven by an error feedback signal. As
subjects practiced, the peak of the field-appropriate EMG shifted temporally to earlier in the movement, becoming a feedforward command.
The gradual temporal shift suggests that the CNS may use the delayed
error-feedback response, which was likely to have been generated
through spinal reflex circuits, as a template to learn a predictive
feedforward response. The second metric quantified formation of the IM
through changes in the directional bias of each muscle's spatial EMG
function, i.e., EMG as a function of movement direction. As subjects
practiced, co-activation decreased, and the directional bias of each
muscle's EMG function gradually rotated by an amount that was specific
to the field being learned. This demonstrates that formation of an IM
can be represented through rotations in the spatial tuning of muscle
EMG functions. Combined with other recent work linking spatial tunings
of EMG and motor cortical cells, these results suggest that rotations
in motor cortical tuning functions could underlie representation of
internal models in the CNS.
Key words:
motor learning; motor control; electromyography; internal
model; computational modeling; human
 |
INTRODUCTION |
People learn to move novel objects
along desired trajectories, in any direction, by simply practicing the
task a few times. This adaptation is remarkable because of the
computational complexity inherent to learning dynamics (Atkeson, 1989
).
Adaptation of a neural internal model (IM), transforming desired
trajectories of the hand into appropriate muscle activations, likely
underlies this ability (Jordan, 1995
; Wolpert et al., 1995
).
Aftereffects, errors that people make when learned dynamics are
unexpectedly changed, suggest that IMs are built gradually with
practice (Shadmehr and Mussa-Ivaldi, 1994
), that learning one IM can
interfere with the learning of a second IM (Brashers-Krug et al.,
1996
), and that the interference fades over the course of hours
(Shadmehr and Brashers-Krug, 1997
). The evidence for the formation of
IMs, however, comes mainly from psychophysics. A measure of neural output, such as electromyography (EMG), could provide insight into the
neural basis of the formation of IMs.
Previous work has reported EMG changes during learning of single-joint
movements with different loads (Corcos et al., 1993
; Gottlieb, 1994
).
When subjects make elbow movements against an unexpected load, EMG
patterns up until 200 msec into the movement remain unchanged compared
with unperturbed trials (Gottlieb, 1996
). This delayed response to the
perturbation reflects the latency of short- and long-loop reflexes that
use proprioceptive information to produce an error-feedback action
(Marsden et al., 1978
). Once subjects practice with the novel load, EMG
differs from unperturbed trials from the beginning of movement
(Gottlieb, 1994
). This change in the movement-initiating EMG reflects
the adaptation of descending control commands. In computational
studies, the changes in descending commands are attributable to
adaptation of an IM (Wada and Kawato, 1993
; Miall and Wolpert, 1996
;
Barto et al., 1998
; Bhushan and Shadmehr, 1999
). An elegant idea is
that adaptation may be driven by error-feedback motor responses
generated by reflex circuits (Kawato et al., 1987
; Stroeve, 1997
). In
other words, the delayed, reflex-based error feedback might serve as a
"blueprint" for how the CNS needs to change descending commands. To
test this idea, the computational concept of an IM for multijoint
movements needs to be described in a way that its formation could be
quantitatively tested by changes in EMG. Here we asked whether changes
in EMG correlate with the formation of an IM, and whether the
error-feedback response drives this learning.
We measured EMG as subjects learned to reach while grasping a
manipulandum, which created novel forces. We used a biomechanical model
to transform EMG into a composite trace, corresponding to activation
that specifically compensated for the imposed field. We found that with
training, activation of the appropriate musculature gradually shifted
from a delayed error-feedback response to a predictive feedforward
response. To quantify how these changes corresponded to the formation
of an IM, we analyzed the directional tuning functions of
movement-initiating EMG. These spatial functions relate EMG to movement
direction in hand-centered coordinates (Flanders and
Soechting, 1990
; Sergio and Kalaska, 1998
). Previous reports
have demonstrated that reaching movements or isometric force production
generate EMGs with broadly tuned directional biases (Flanders and
Soechting, 1990
; Flanders, 1991
; Karst and Hasan, 1991
). Our modeling
revealed that learning of an IM should result in specific rotations of
muscles' tuning curves. We found that with practice, the directional
patterns of activation gradually rotated; the final magnitude of the
rotations corresponded well with the predicted change. Temporal
features and angular orientation are invariant to the overall magnitude
of the EMG; therefore, across subjects and across recording sessions,
despite removal and reapplication of surface electrodes, our metrics
robustly quantified the formation of internal models.
Portions of this work have been presented previously in abstract form
(Thoroughman and Shadmehr, 1998
).
 |
MATERIALS AND METHODS |
Experimental apparatus. Twenty-four right-handed
subjects (12 women and 12 men), students in the Johns Hopkins School of
Medicine, provided written consent to participate in this study. With
their right hand, subjects grasped the end effector (handle) of a 2 df
manipulandum mounted in the horizontal plane (Shadmehr and Brashers-Krug, 1997
). Subjects sat in front of the manipulandum, with
the right arm supported by a sling. Sensors on the manipulandum accurately measured joint position and velocity (details provided by
Shadmehr and Brashers-Krug, 1997
). Two motors, mounted on the base of
the manipulandum, could independently produce torque on the proximal
and distal joints of the robotic arm. A computer monitor mounted above
the manipulandum displayed a cursor representing hand position and
boxes representing targets. Using pediatric cardiac electrodes, EMG was
recorded from four muscles: biceps, triceps lateralis/longus, anterior
deltoid, and posterior deltoid. Before the application of the
electrodes, the skin was cleaned and abraded using a preparation gel
(NuPrep; Weaver, Aurora, CO). EMG signals were amplified by Grass
(Quincy, MA) AC amplifiers (model 8A5) with 60 Hz notch filters. The
amplified signal was bandpass-filtered (17-530 Hz), processed through
a root-mean-square circuit with a 25 msec integration window (De Luca,
1997
), and digitized. Hand position, hand velocity, and processed EMG
were recorded at 100 Hz. The processed and digitized EMG formed the signals analyzed below.
Experimental protocol. Subjects made 10 cm point-to-point
movements toward 8 mm square targets represented by boxes on the computer monitor. Subjects made movements in four directions (0, 45, 90, and 135°) away from the center of the work space and four directions (180, 225, 270, and 315°) back to the center; the order of
the outward directions was determined pseudorandomly. If subjects completed the movement in 500 ± 50 msec, the box "exploded,"
and the computer generated a pleasing sound. If the cursor reached the
box too slowly (in
550 msec), the target filled in blue; if the
cursor reached the box too quickly (in
450 msec), the target filled
in red. The only instruction provided was to explode as many targets as
possible. We provided no instructions regarding straightness of
movements or smoothness of trajectories.
Subjects made reaching movements in two or three different dynamic
environments. One, termed the "null field," is the condition in
which the torque motors do not create any forces; in the null field the
subjects encounter only the inertial dynamics of the manipulandum. In
the second and third environments, B1 and
B2, torque motors produce an additional force as
described by the equation:
|
(1)
|
where
is the force produced at the end
effector by the robot's motors,
is
the instantaneous velocity vector of the hand, and B is a
viscosity matrix. In the first environment, the null field,
B0 equals [0 0; 0 0]
N · sec · m
1. In the second environment,
B1 equals [0 13;
13 0]
N · sec · m
1; in the third,
B2 =
B1.
These "force fields" exert a force proportional in strength to the
instantaneous speed of the hand, in the direction perpendicular to the
instantaneous velocity vector.
Subjects' training was divided into sets of 192 movements. Each set
was followed by a 3 min rest period. On a first day of training, all 24 subjects completed three sets of movements in the null field. On a
second day, all subjects completed one set in the null field and then
three sets in the force field B1. Here we report
data only from the second day.
After completion of the training in B1, three
groups of eight subjects each completed two sets of movements. One
group completed these two sets in the null field after the standard 3 min rest. A second group trained in B2 3 min
after B1, and a third group trained in
B2 6 hr after B1. During the 6 hr period, EMG electrodes were removed, and subjects left the laboratory. After their return, electrodes were reapplied on
approximately the same arm positions as the earlier session, as marked
by the earlier abrasion of the skin.
Displacement analysis. To facilitate averaging across
movements, all movement data were temporally aligned on the basis of the movement onset, which was defined as when the tangential speed first crossed a threshold (0.03 m/sec). Perpendicular velocity was
defined as the component of the velocity vector that pointed perpendicular to the line connecting the initial hand position and
target position. Perpendicular displacement was computed by summing
perpendicular velocity over the first 250 msec of the movement. In each
direction we subtracted away the average perpendicular displacement
generated in the null field (first set, day 2).
EMG normalization. Each subject's (bandpassed, RMS'd) EMG
traces were normalized based on movement-initiating EMG recorded during
the initial null field set. For each muscle m and in each direction of movement, we calculated a scalar activation
am by averaging the EMG trace
Am(t) over time interval between 50 msec before
and 100 msec after the onset of movement (capital letters refer to full
time series; small letters refer to scalar measures) and then averaging
over all movements made in that direction during the initial null field
set. We constructed an 8 × 1 vector
m for each muscle, each element
representing a single direction. We then adjusted the scale of each
muscle's EMG trace in each movement, producing the normalized trace
An, using the equation:
|
(2)
|
where k is an index of movement number, and
m is an index of muscle. Within each subject, therefore, the
EMG values recorded during all movements (in the null field and in
force fields) were normalized using the same linear transformation.
This transformation facilitated comparisons of activation across
subjects but preserved the training-induced changes of every subject's EMG.
Polar analysis. We used a form of data analysis termed polar
analysis to evaluate changes in EMG. We began the analysis by computing
the movement-initiating activation for each subject, binned within each
direction across eight movements. We then multiplied each scalar by the
unit vector pointing in the direction of movement, so that these
vectors, when plotted together, display am as
radii pointing in the direction of movement corresponding to that
activity. These polar plots summarized the function mapping target
direction into initial EMG activity.
To determine the directional bias of each activation function, in each
movement bin we added the eight am vectors
together to form one resultant vector. This resultant vector had the
same direction and is proportional in magnitude to the mean of the eight vectors (if a unit mass would have been placed on the end point
of each vector, the mean of the vectors would have been the center of
mass of the collection of points). By calculating the orientation of
this resultant vector, we detected changes in the angular dependence of
am as subjects learned dynamic environments.
Computational modeling: structure of the model. The purpose
of the computational modeling was to predict the change in the pattern
of joint torques that should result if an adaptive control system
learned to completely compensate for the dynamics of the force field.
To calculate the changes in joint torques attributable to adaptation,
we simulated the dynamics of the four-link system of Figure
1 through the following coupled
differential equations:
|
(3)
|
|
(4)
|
where I and G were inertial and
coriolis/centripetal matrix functions, M was the torque
field produced by the robot's motors, i.e., the environment,
was the force vector measured at the handle of the
robot,
was the adaptive controller
implemented by the motor system of the subject,
*(t) was the reference trajectory planned by the motor control system of the
subject, Jr was the Jacobian matrix
describing the differential transformation of coordinates from end
point to joints,
and
were column
vectors representing joint positions of the subjects and the robot
(Figure 1), and the subscripts s and r denoted
subject or robot matrices of parameters.

View larger version (25K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
|
Figure 1.
Experimental apparatus. Subjects make reaching
movements while grasping a 2 df manipulandum (robotic arm). The
manipulandum could be programmed to produce a force field.
|
|
The robot's passive mechanical dynamics,
Ir and Gr, as
well as a typical subject's passive dynamics of the arm,
Is and Gs, were previously estimated (Shadmehr and Brashers-Krug, 1997
). A key
design question is with respect to the function C.
Simulations have previously suggested that a reasonable lumped model of
the subject's biomechanical controller in the case of these targeted movements is as follows (Shadmehr and Brashers-Krug, 1997
):
|
(5)
|
K was a linear estimate of the subject's joint
stiffness and was set to a constant K = [15, 6; 6, 16] N · m
1 · rad
1 (Mussa-Ivaldi et al., 1985
). V was
a linear estimate of joint viscosity and was set at V = [2.25, 0.9; 0.9, 2.4] N · m
1 · sec
1 · rad
1. This
controller is dependent on a model of the subject's passive dynamics,
represented by Îs and
s, and model of the force field
environment,
(
*). We assumed the desired
trajectory,
*(t), was a minimum jerk motion of the hand to the target (Flash and Hogan, 1985
) with a period of 0.5 sec.
Our previous simulations have suggested that such a controller produced
trajectories in the above differential equations that reasonably agreed
with performance of our subjects in the field (Shadmehr and
Brashers-Krug, 1997
).
We simulated Equations 3 and 4 for a configuration of the arm in which
the hand made the first movement starting from x =
0.1 and y = 0.45 m, based on the coordinate
system shown in Figure 1. This is the work space for which the EMG data
in the current paper were acquired. The force field produced by the
robot was always of the form
= B
. This field can be written in joint coordinates of the robot or the subject, i.e., the
M variable in Equation 3, using simple kinematic
transformations (Shadmehr and Mussa-Ivaldi, 1994
). We considered two
conditions. In the first condition, the field produced by the robot was
B = B0, i.e., the null field. In
the second condition, we had B = B1. We performed a numerical simulation of
Equations 3 and 4 for each condition under the assumption that the
controller had a perfect model of the field. Movements were simulated
to the same eight directions as in our psychophysical studies.
The torques produced by the controller of Equation 3 on the shoulder
and elbow joints were
s(t,
) and
e(t,
), where t is time into
the movement, and
is the target direction. The calculated
elbow and shoulder torques were parceled into muscle force by solving
the set of equations,
|
(6)
|
where
[Fb,
Ft, Fa,
Fp]T is a vector of muscle forces,
JmT is the transpose of the
differential transformation from muscle lengths to joint angles, i.e.,
d
/d
, the Jacobian representing muscle moment arms, and
kbt and kap are constants
of reciprocal activation. The reciprocal activation constants were
derived through analysis of the actual null field EMG data. From the
recorded EMG data, am was calculated for each
muscle for each direction (this represented the average EMG from
t =
50 to t = 100 msec into the
movement). Next, a resultant vector was calculated for each muscle. The
ratio of the length of the resultant vector to the mean of the
am function for each muscle was calculated. This represented the strength of the directional bias of each muscle's EMG.
We observed that selection of reciprocal activation constants kbt and kap determined
the strength of the directional bias of muscle forces in the model
(also calculated over t =
50 to t = 100 msec). We adjusted the activation constants in the model so
that it produced muscle forces that matched the strength of the
directional biases measured in the am data. We
arrived at kbt = 1 × 103 N2 and
kap = 3 × 103
N2.
There is no general consensus regarding the magnitude of muscle moment
arms (i.e., matrix Jm in Eq. 6) for the
human arm in the horizontal plane. Here we considered six different
models (Table 1). Four of the matrices
(models A-D) were derived presuming different levels of effective
biarticulation of biceps and triceps: model A presumed no
biarticulation, and models B-D presumed that the moment arms of biceps
and triceps across the shoulder were one-half, the same, and twice the
moment arms of the anterior and posterior deltoids, respectively. The fifth model (E) was derived from cadaver data (Wood et al., 1989
) recorded with the shoulder adducted and forearm horizontal and extending forward, and the sixth model (F) was model E transformed through a rigid body rotation to the horizontal plane of the
shoulders.
View this table:
[in this window]
[in a new window]
|
Table 1.
Computational representation of an internal model in terms
of expected changes in the angular orientation of the EMG, as
represented by a spatial function in hand centered coordinates, for
each muscle
|
|
Computational modeling: predicting rotation of directional bias.
For each moment arm model, the simulation produced a time series
of muscle forces appropriate to make movements in the null field. In
each direction of movement i, we averaged over the first 150 msec of predicted force production (corresponding to the interval 50 msec before through 100 msec after movement initiation) to determine
for each muscle a scalar variable fm(i). We
performed polar analysis (see above) on these scalars to determine a
resultant vector to summarize, in null field movements, the angular
dependence of fm on movement direction. We then
performed the same analysis on the forces appropriate to move in the
force field B1. From these two polar analyses we
determined, for each muscle, the difference between the orientations of
fm resultant vectors in the null field and in
force field B1.
The results for each model are shown in Table 1. We found that changing
moment arm matrices tended to change the orientation of preferred
directions in both null field and B1 but did not
tend to change the angle between them. All models predicted approximately the same levels of rotation in the tuning functions of
biceps and triceps. For the anterior and posterior deltoids, predicted
rotations were very similar for all models except that of model D. The
results in Table 1 show how much rotation of the spatial activation
function, as represented in hand-centered coordinates, should occur as
a subject learns an internal model for field
B1.
Computational modeling: predicting time series of appropriate
activations. Studies that have recorded EMG during single-joint movements have reported increases or decreases in the activation of
individual muscles during learning. This analysis is appropriate for
tasks with a single degree of freedom, but here we needed to consider
movements with 2 df, actuated by multiple muscles, moving in several
directions. To facilitate analysis of EMG across directions of
movement, we derived an inverse muscle model, whose parameters were
determined by subjects' EMG in the null field. The model was validated
by predicting EMG patterns in the force field. These predictions were
then used to remap EMG into composite traces based on their functional relevance.
To determine the muscle activations appropriate for our task, we first
used Equations 3-6 and muscle model C to calculate the time series of
muscle forces necessary to make a minimum jerk reaching movement,
Fi,m,n(t), where i
indicates movement direction, m muscle, and n
force field (n = 0 signifies the null field,
n = 1 the force field B1). Next,
we transformed the modeled muscle force
Fi,m,n(t) into appropriate
muscle activations. To estimate the relationship between predicted
muscle force and recorded EMG
[Ai,m,n(t)], we found a
piecewise linear fit between the force predictions in the null field
and the recorded EMG from our subjects, using the following analyses.
In the null field, for each muscle m and in each direction,
we calculated the average predicted force and recorded EMG during the
agonist period, from 50 msec before through 100 msec after the onset of
the movement (fmag and
amag), and during the antagonist period,
from 200 msec through 300 msec into the movement
(fmant and
amant). We then fit the null field forces
across all eight directions to the recorded null field EMG using the
equations:
|
(7)
|
where
and
are 8 × 1 vectors reflecting recorded EMG and predicted force in all eight
directions, and p are parameters of the fit.
We calculated the parameters to find the least-squared fit of the null
field data and found that the fit was significant for all four muscles,
during both the agonist and antagonist bursts (for all eight fits,
r > 0.88; p < 1 × 10
3; the top two plots in Figure
2 show the fits for anterior deltoid in
the null field). To validate the fits, we used the same parameters to
transform fi,m,1, the predicted
force for field B1, into predicted EMG. The
transformed forces fit the mean EMG recorded from the subjects rather
well [for one of the fits (triceps during the antagonist burst),
r = 0.73; p < 0.04; for all other fits, r > 0.80; p < 0.015; the bottom two
plots in Figure 2 show, for anterior deltoid, the relationship
between transformed force and EMG in the field
B1]. The parameters used for the fits are given
in Table 2. This rather simple muscle
model, therefore, was validated on data not used to fit the
parameters.

View larger version (34K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
|
Figure 2.
Data used for building a simple force activation
model for the anterior deltoid and data used for testing the validity
of the model. We fitted the predicted muscle forces (as computed by an
inertial model of the arm and best estimates of moment arms) to
subjects' mean EMG while moving in the null field during the agonist
period ( 50-100 msec into the movement) and during the antagonist
period (200-300 msec into the movement; Eq. 7 fits a line to the
change in activity between the agonist and antagonist periods). The
simple muscle model, as derived by the data in the null field
(top row), was validated by testing how well it predicted
mean EMG patterns in the force field B1 after
subjects had fully adapted to it. Top plots, The anterior
deltoid force predicted by the inertial model is fitted to the mean EMG
recorded from subjects during null field movements. Each
point is data for movement to a given direction. Each
circle is the average normalized EMG recorded during that
period in this muscle from all subjects. The line is the best linear
fit (p < 0.001 for each figure), that represents the
muscle model. Bottom plots, Validating the muscle model. The
linear fit from the null field was used to transform the
predicted forces necessary for movements in field
B1 to EMG units. The x-axis is the
predicted average EMG in anterior deltoid. The circles are
the mean recorded EMG in all subjects after full adaptation. The
solid line is the muscle model's predictions. The
dotted line is the best possible linear fit of the
validation data.
|
|
For each movement direction, each muscle, and both dynamic
environments, we used the parameters p to map predicted
force (f) into predicted EMG (e;
note that a refers to actual activations) at baseline
attributable to the reciprocal activation (base), during
movement initiation (ag, from
50 through 100 msec), and midmovement (ant, 200-300 msec). We then compared these
activation scalars to determine, in the null field, what increases or
decreases from baseline were appropriate for initiating movements. We
also determined what increases or decreases from null field activations were appropriate to counter the novel forces produced by field B1 midway through the movement (when
field-induced forces were maximal). We summarized these predictions in
a three-dimensional object x(i, m, n):
|
(8)
|
For each movement direction i and force field
n, x(i, m, n) for two of the muscles were positive; the
size of these activations predicted the proportion that each of those
muscles participated as an agonist in making a movement in the null
field (for n = 0) or as an agonist for resisting the
forces of field B1 (for n = 1).
On the other hand, x(i, m, n) was negative for the remaining two muscles. These negative values predicted that the two
remaining muscles produced a force opposite that of the imposed field
and should be inhibited. We constructed 1 × 4 vector operators v,
|
(9)
|
to identify functional agonists (+) and antagonists (
) in a
given force field. The magnitude of each vector v was
normalized to 1. The vector values are shown in Table
3 for the null field and for field
B1.
Each vector operator predicts, in the four-dimensional space of muscle
activation, in what direction activation should increase or decrease
(at the peak of activity) to effectively make movements in a given
field. To give an example, consider a movement toward a target at
90°. In the null field (n = 0), the vector operator v90,0,+ predicts that to
initiate an accurate movement, the triceps and anterior deltoid should
be activated above their baseline levels. Furthermore, if one
considered the triceps and anterior deltoid activations to form an
(x, y) plane, the model predicts that the average activity
over the agonist period would point in the direction of the unit vector
(0.859, 0.513). To move in the field B1 toward
90°, v90,1,+ predicts that
biceps and anterior deltoid should be activated more strongly than in the null field. Midway through the movement (200-300 msec into the
movement), the unit vector pointing in the direction of the most
appropriate increase in activation would equal (0.869, 0.495).
Using model predictions to remap subjects' EMG. We used the
vector operators (Table 3) to remap EMG recorded from the four muscles
into composite traces, T:
|
(10)
|
where
i(t)
[Ab,i(t), At,i(t),
Aa,i(t), Ap,i(t)] is a
concatenation of EMG from the four muscles in a movement toward direction i. For example, the composite trace
Ti,1,+ reveals, at each time
point, the projection of the four-dimensional EMG vector (one
dimension for each muscle) onto the direction of activation that
performs work against the force field B1.
Whereas the original EMG traces were strongly direction-dependent, the composite traces reveal the direction-independent muscular activity that compensates for a given field. The composite traces therefore can
be compared and averaged across directions to understand adaptation of
neural output across the work space.
The transformation in Equation 10 remapped the full time series of EMG
traces using the predicted optimal activation over specific time
intervals (the average over the agonist period for null field data,
over midmovement for the increase appropriate for field B1). These remappings retained the natural
temporal structure of the EMG traces for each muscle; the activation in
each trace at each time point was weighed equally. When the remapping
of the increase appropriate for B1 was instead
determined by predictions during other time intervals, the direction of
appropriate activation changed very little over the range from 50 msec
before through 300 msec after the onset of movement (averaged across directions of movement, change in unit vector direction
15°). The
unit vectors v1,+ in Table 3, therefore,
accurately reflect the predicted direction of increased activity
throughout the movement.
The composite trace Ti,1,+
summarized EMG activity that we estimated as effectively countering the
forces of field B1. This trace was averaged
across directions and binned over 64 movements (three bins per target
set of 192 movements). The averaged and binned traces were then fit
with fourth-order polynomials. Of primary interest was the question of
how this function evolved as subjects practiced in the force field. A
major component of this change was an apparent shift in the peak of the
function. Bootstrapping techniques (see below) were used to estimate
95% confidence intervals of timing of the peak.
Wasted contraction: a measure of co-contraction. Previous
studies have measured "co-contraction" through the addition of the EMG traces of opposing muscles (Milner and Cloutier, 1993
). If the
activation of a single muscle increases, however, the sum of activation
of this muscle and its antagonist would increase. The
co-contraction metric would then increase, even though only one
muscle's activation increased. To avoid this ambiguity, we used a new
measure termed "wasted contraction," which used the remapped
composite traces to determine the amount of contraction that is
cancelled by the opposing groups and therefore does not lead to
effective force production.
For each subject, we first remapped the (previously scaled) EMG of each
movement into composite traces (Eq. 10). At each sampling point, we
then determined, in each agonist-antagonist pair of composite traces,
which trace was smaller. Because this activation was cancelled by the
larger, opposing activation, the time series of this smaller activity
was termed wasted contraction. This amount was then subtracted from the
larger trace, creating a time series of "effective contraction."
The wasted contractions were averaged across force directions
(n
0, 1 from above), averaged across movement
direction, and binned over 32 movements (six bins per set). Each
subject's wasted contraction was then scaled by the maximum effective
contraction measured over bins in the null field and in
B1. The wasted contraction traces were then
averaged across subjects. This average wasted contraction was fit with a fourth-order polynomial; the maximum of this polynomial was calculated and compared during different stages of training. The 95%
confidence intervals for the change in maximum wasted contraction were
calculated by bootstrapping (see below).
Calculation of force produced by the human controller. We
also used the structure and parameters of our model of the human-robot interaction to estimate the amount of force subjects create during movements. Using Equations 3 and 4 and using our estimates of the human
and robot dynamical parameters, we transformed individual subjects'
hand position and velocity into estimated torque produced by the
subjects' muscles (the acceleration terms in these equations were
estimated by filtering the velocity data through a second-order Savitsky-Golay filter). We then multiplied this torque by
Js
T, the transposed inverse of the
subject's hand Jacobian, to determine the force produced at the hand
attributable to joint torques. We remapped the forces produced in each
direction of movement into the components parallel and perpendicular to
the target direction. We averaged across directions and across
subjects, fit each force trace with a fourth-order polynomial, and
determined the timing of the maximum of each trace. Confidence
intervals were determined by bootstrapping.
Bootstrapping. Confidence intervals for the rotation of EMG
resultant vectors, the timing of the first peak of the
B1-appropriate EMG trace, and the maximum level
of wasted contraction were determined by using bootstrapping (Fisher,
1993
; Welsh, 1996
). The original pool of data from 24 subjects was
resampled, with replacement, 1000 times to create 1000 new sets of 24 data points (for rotation) or 24 time series (of EMG). Each resampled
set was averaged; for time series, each series was fitted with a
fourth-order polynomial, and then the first peak (for
B1-appropriate EMG and forces) or the maximum
(for wasted contraction) was calculated from this fit. The resulting
set of 1000 statistics was sorted by rank; the 95% confidence interval
was determined by the 26th and 975th elements of this vector.
 |
RESULTS |
EMG correlates of learning: a single direction of movement
Let us initially consider movements made toward a single
direction. When subjects made movements in the null field at 135°, their EMG traces (Fig. 3, gray
lines) revealed that the anterior deltoid was active early to
initiate the movement, whereas triceps and posterior deltoid were
active later to brake the movement.

View larger version (16K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
|
Figure 3.
Hand paths and EMG recorded during movements.
Left, Hand paths of a typical subject in her first and last
(72nd) movements toward a target at 135° in the force field
B1. The first movement is significantly
perturbed from the straight line trajectory. With practice, movements
become straight again. Dots are at 10 msec intervals. The
arrow indicates 250 msec into the movement. This is the
position at which we measured perpendicular displacement from a
straight line. Remaining plots, Processed EMG (normalized
units) in the null field (all 24 movements toward 135°, gray
line), during initial stages of training in the force field (first
8 movements toward 135°, thin black line), and late in
training in the force field (last 8 movements, thick black
line). Movement begins at t = 0. Each EMG trace
represents data averaged across all 24 subjects. The vertical
dotted lines delimit the 150 msec interval over which EMG is
averaged to calculate the scalar variable
am, representing time-averaged agonist
burst EMG.
|
|
Early in training in force field B1, when
subjects attempted to make movements toward 135° they generated
inaccurate hand paths that diverged from the target direction (Fig. 3,
top trajectory). Midway through a typical movement, the
activity in biceps (Fig. 3, thin black line) increased; the
hand path was then corrected toward the target. The timing of the
increased biceps activation suggested that this muscle was activated in response to the robot forces that extended the elbow during the reach.
The increased activation of biceps was possibly an error-feedback response mediated via a stretch reflex mechanism. In contrast to these
field-induced changes in the biceps, the time series of activations for
anterior and posterior deltoids in the force field closely resembled
the activations recorded in these muscles in the null field.
As subjects trained in field B1, the movements
became straighter (Fig. 3). The EMG from these improved movements
featured larger biceps activity very early, preceding the movement
itself (Fig. 3, thick black line). The biceps then became
less active later in the movement, during the same period in which it
was active when subjects first trained in B1.
Therefore, a major component of the adaptation process was a
modification of the EMG patterns necessary to initiate the movement.
To summarize the changes in early EMG in movements toward 135°, we
averaged EMG over the time interval from 50 msec before to 100 msec
after the onset of movement. This scalar measure of activation was
termed am. Figure
4 shows the evolution of
am as subjects moved in the null field and then
trained in B1. The figure also displays
perpendicular displacement, a measure of movement error that is
computed 250 msec into the movement. These data show that as subjects
trained in B1, the curvature of the movements
became significantly smaller (p < 5 × 10
8), am in biceps significantly
increased (p < 1 × 10
4),
and am in triceps significantly decreased
(p < 0.002) compared with their null field activation.
Neither anterior nor posterior deltoid activation significantly changed
with training in B1 (anterior, p > 0.15; posterior, p > 0.35).

View larger version (17K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
|
Figure 4.
Perpendicular displacement (top) and
subjects' am (time-averaged agonist burst EMG)
during movements toward 135°. Subjects completed one set of movements
in the well learned null field environment and then three sets in the
force field B1. Perpendicular displacement is
measured 250 msec into the movement, averaged across directions and
subjects; these data reflect change from average perpendicular
displacement in null field movements. x-axis tick
marks indicate breaks between sets of movements. Each
point includes data from eight movements (3 data points per
set). Error bars reflect 95% confidence intervals of the mean.
|
|
In summary, the changes in EMG traces measured in movements toward
135° suggested that when subjects were first exposed to B1, they generated additional muscle activations
late in the movement to correct for movement curvature. With further
training, subjects learned to generate this added activation early in
the movement, predicting rather than responding to the force field.
EMG correlates of learning across all directions of movement
To quantify the correlation between changes in EMG and the
formation of an internal model, we wanted to extend our analysis from a
single direction to many directions of movement. This extension is
hampered by the fact that each muscle makes different contributions to
movements in different directions. We circumvented this obstacle by
using the predictions of our simulated controller. We considered the
time pattern of EMG in the muscles for a given movement as a path in a
four-dimensional space, each axis representing a muscle. Our model also
predicted paths in this space: one path for moving in a null field and
one for moving in a force field. The difference between these two
predicted paths indicated activity in that space which should be
increased, peaking midway through the movement, to move accurately in
B1. In each movement direction, the increased
activity projected into a single component of muscle activity (Eq. 9,
Table 3; see Materials and Methods). The discovery of appropriate
activations allowed us to project the EMG recorded from each subject,
during each movement in the field B1, into
functionally appropriate composite traces (Eq. 10).
We used this approach to map the four EMG traces into four composite
traces. One of the resulting traces quantified the component of
activations that was most appropriate for moving in the null field;
another one quantified the component that most appropriately resisted
the additional forces created by field B1. These were termed the null field and B1-appropriate
EMG traces. This transformation remapped the EMG from directionally
dependent individual muscles to directionally independent composite
traces, permitting the comparison and averaging of these traces across directions.
We calculated the null field- and B1-appropriate
EMG traces during the first null field set and the third set in field B1, respectively. The resulting traces were
averaged over all movement directions and all subjects to arrive at a
single trace. The results are shown in Figure
5 (solid lines). The left plot
(Fig. 5A) shows the average null field-appropriate EMG trace produced by subjects as they reached in the null field. The peak of
this trace was at
13.3 msec, i.e., before the start of the movement
[95% confidence interval of the mean (CIM), (
17.5,
8.2) msec].
In comparison, the average force that was produced by the subjects
(Fig. 5A, dotted line) had its peak 68.4 msec into the movement [95% CIM, (66.1, 70.6) msec].

View larger version (15K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
|
Figure 5.
Subjects' composite EMG traces (solid
lines) and forces (dotted lines). A, The
solid line is the null field-appropriate EMG averaged over
all subjects and all movements in the initial null field set (192 movements). The dotted line is the average force in the
direction of the target actually produced during the same movements.
B, The solid line is the
B1-appropriate EMG trace, averaged over all
subjects and over all movements during the final set of training in
force field B1. The dotted line is
the average force produced perpendicular to the direction of target
during the same movements. Forces in both plots were calculated from
subject trajectories, using the model structure outlined in Equations 3
and 4. For the time series of EMG and force, maximum range of 95%
confidence intervals of EMG and force were as follows: null
field-appropriate EMG, ±5.3 units; parallel force, ±0.28 N;
B1-appropriate EMG, ±6.2 units; perpendicular
force, ±0.13 N.
|
|
The composite EMG trace shown in Figure 5A represents the
component of activation appropriate for moving the hand toward a target, i.e., the agonist burst of activity. A second composite EMG
trace (data not shown) produces force in the direction opposite the
movement direction. This composite trace (defined by
v0,
in Table 3) peaked 231 msec into
the movement [95% CIM, (222, 240) msec]. This peak of activity
generated the burst of force in the negative direction in Figure
5A, which reached a minimum (a maximum in the negative force
direction) 316 msec into the movement [95% CIM, (313, 319) msec]. As
expected, the temporal profile of the force trace was essentially a
delayed version of the transformed EMG traces.
This close correspondence was maintained when we compared the
B1-appropriate EMG with the pattern of forces
that subjects had produced perpendicular to the direction of target
during the training. Fig. 5B shows the
B1-appropriate EMG and the corresponding forces,
both averaged across subjects during the last set of training in the
force field. With training, subjects had learned to alter their EMG
early into the movement [Fig. 5B, peak of the solid
line at 78 msec; 95% CIM, (67, 91) msec] so that the muscles
produced a bell-shaped force pattern perpendicular to the direction of
the target, effectively canceling the force field.
The relationship between the composite EMG traces and the
subject-generated forces confirms the aptness of the transformation of
EMG into composite traces. The vector operators in Table 3, created
from the predicted activations of the biomechanical model, have
elicited the components of EMG appropriate for moving in the null field
and resisting the additional force produced by field
B1. We will now examine the component
appropriate for field B1 throughout the training
in the force field, to determine how the neural activation of the
appropriate musculature evolves with learning.
Within subjects, we averaged the B1-appropriate
EMG across directions and across bins of 64 movements (three bins per set, nine bins spanning training in B1). The
mean trace for each subject for each bin was averaged across subjects.
The resulting traces are shown in Figure
6. Because the imposed force field was a
function of hand velocity, and hand velocity was generally unimodal, we
expected the EMG that effectively countered this force to be also
unimodal. Indeed, we found that the
B1-appropriate EMG was always unimodal.
Furthermore, because the response to the imposed force field could
initially be only through a delayed error feedback system (e.g.,
through spinal reflexes), we expected the initial
B1-appropriate EMG to lag the imposed forces. This was also observed.

View larger version (19K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
|
Figure 6.
The composite EMG trace appropriate for field
B1 shifts with training. Top, Binned
and averaged increase in the B1-appropriate EMG
trace. Each trace is averaged over 64 movements and over all 24 subjects. The progression of plots from top to
bottom shows EMG traces from early to late in training. The
dashed lines in the top and bottom
axes represent the magnitude of the force created by the viscous field
B1, which remained consistent throughout
training in B1. Although early in training the
peak of the field-appropriate EMG lagged the imposed force, with
training it preceded the imposed force. The timing of the peak was
estimated by a fit to a fourth-order polynomial. The best estimate of the
peak and its change with training is marked by the line that
crosses the EMG traces from top to bottom. In the
bottom figure, the timing of the peak of the EMG traces is
plotted versus movement number. The dotted lines connecting
data points represent the 3 min breaks between sets. Error bars reflect
95% confidence intervals of the mean (across all 24 subjects), as
determined by bootstrapping. The dotted horizontal line
represents the timing of the peak of the force created by the force
field.
|
|
With practice in the force field, the peak of the
B1-appropriate EMG trace shifted to occur
earlier into the movement. To estimate the peak location of each EMG
trace, the data were fitted to a fourth-order polynomial. We found that
when subjects started to train in B1, the peak
of the B1-appropriate EMG occurred 246 msec into
the movement [95% CIM, (215, 274) msec]. This peak arrived 48 msec
after the peak of the force created by the force field
B1; the peak of the robot-imposed force coincided with the peak tangential velocity of the hand and on average
occurred at 195 msec into the movement throughout training in
B1. By the end of the third set of training in
B1, subjects had modified their motor commands
such that the peak of the B1-appropriate EMG
occurred just 67 msec into the movement [95% CIM, (48, 86) msec; in
t test of time shift, p < 1 × 10
4]. Therefore, when subjects first
encountered B1, they activated the appropriate
muscles midway through the movement. The timing of this activation,
coupled with the marked curvature of these movements, suggested that
subjects activated these muscles through an error-driven feedback
mechanism. With training in B1, subjects learned
to activate appropriate muscles earlier in the movement, in the period
during which control was purely feedforward.
The changes in timing of the B1-appropriate EMG
activity revealed that subjects adapted their neuromotor output
throughout all three sets of movements (Figure 6, bottom).
This measure was much more sensitive than the kinematic measure of
perpendicular displacement, which showed no learning during the second
or third sets (compare Figure 8).
With training, subjects generated B1-appropriate
EMG earlier in the movement. During the 3 min break between sets, however, the subjects partially unlearned this adaptation and began the
next set with activation of B1-appropriate
muscles shifted later than at the end of the previous set (Figure 6,
bottom). In between the second and third sets of training in
B1, this shift forward in time, i.e., the
"forgetting," was significant (mean shift, 31 msec; p < 0.05). The shift of the B1-appropriate activation backward in time during the second and third sets and forward in time during breaks between sets indicate that the timing of
this component of activation is a valid metric of learning that reveals
more about the state of the adaptation than do kinematic measures alone.
Rotation of angular dependence of forces: simulation results
These results suggested that subjects initially responded to
B1 by generating appropriate EMG quite late in
the movement, perhaps because of an error-feedback mechanism, but with
training they learned to activate the same muscles earlier in the
movement. This transition suggested that reactive responses early in
training effected proactive behavior late in training. We then focused our attention on the subjects' initial, purely feedforward, responses to the task: how do humans generate movement-initiating muscle activations based on the visual cue of a target, a desired end point of
a movement? How does this neural computation, mapping stimulus to motor
neuronal activation, change with learning?
To guide our investigation of feedforward muscle activation, we
revisited the predicted forces generated by our ideal controller. We
summarized each muscle's force production in both the null field and
in B1 by averaging over the first 150 msec of the time series of force to create a scalar fm.
We used polar analysis (see Materials and Methods) to visualize the
angular dependence of fm (Figure
7, top). We then calculated
resultant vectors (radial vectors in Figure 7, top), which
indicate the directions of maximal force production and summarize the
dependence of force on the direction of movement. Because we predicted
muscle activations using a linear transformation of muscle force, the same polar analysis reveals the predicted directional bias of the
muscle activations.

View larger version (28K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
|
Figure 7.
Rotations in muscle-tuning curves as predicted
from a computational model that assumes adaptation of an IM and tuning
curves as recorded from subjects' EMG. Top,
Movement-initiating muscle forces as predicted by the model for
movements in the null field (gray) and in
B1 (black). Polar plots display
predicted movement-initiating force (fm)
for each direction of movement. The radii of the scale circles
(centered at the origin of each plot) are 20 N. The thick
vector represents a tuning curve's resultant vector (preferred
direction). The model predicts that the resultant vector should rotate
between the null field and B1. The
bars below each plot reveal the rescaling of the data (using
Eq. 7 and the parameters in Table 2) into predicted muscle activations,
in normalized units (nu) of EMG. Bottom, Tuning
functions representing subjects' movement initiating EMG
(am) during training in null field
(gray lines), early force field (thin black
lines), and late force field (thick black lines).
Thick lines are resultant vectors (preferred directions).
The error bars around individual data points reflect 95% confidence
intervals of the mean activation.
|
|
The simulation results revealed that by learning to compensate for
B1, the resultant vector of each muscle should
rotate by a specific amount (Fig. 7, top). We found that the
degree of rotation was similar over a wide range of moment arm models
(Table 1) and remained constant over all levels of co-contraction. (For model C, the directions of the resultant vectors were biceps,
130.7° for null and
157.3° for B1;
triceps, 49.3° and 22.7°; anterior deltoid, 150.0° and 136.3°;
posterior deltoid,
29.6° and
43.2°.) In learning
B1, the simulation predicted that the resultant
vectors should rotate clockwise by 26.6° for biceps and triceps and
13-20° for anterior and posterior deltoid, depending on the moment
arm model used (Table 1). These observations suggested that humans
might calculate a function mapping desired end point location to
initial
-motor neuronal output, and that when subjects learn to move
in B1, the activation function rotates to
produce appropriate muscle forces to accurately initiate movements.
Rotation of angular dependence of EMG with training
in B1
Armed with the result that the simulated controller's muscle
activation resultant vectors rotated between the null field and B1, we analyzed the EMG generated at the
beginning of movements in both the well-learned null field and in
B1. Just as in our analysis of movements made
toward 135°, we averaged each EMG trace over the period from 50 msec
before through 100 msec after the beginning of the movement to create
the scalar am. We then averaged these scalars
over bins of eight movements within directions and then averaged across
all subjects. We compared am generated at three
stages of training: at the end of the set in the null field, at the
beginning of the first set of training in B1,
and at the end of the third set of training in
B1. The results are shown in Fig. 7,
bottom row.
In the null field (Fig. 7, gray lines), each muscle was
strongly activated in certain "preferred" directions and much less activated in the opposing directions. This directional bias to the
activation function was summarized by using polar analysis to construct
a resultant vector for each muscle. The resultant vectors pointed
toward the direction (for biceps,
130°; triceps, 50°; anterior
deltoid, 127°; posterior deltoid,
17°) of maximal activity
presuming a sinusoidal fit of the data.
During the first 64 movements in field B1 (Fig.
7, thin black lines), subjects began to generate
movement-initiating muscle activations that differed from those
generated in the null field. The resultant vectors of the
am rotated clockwise from the directions
recorded in the null field. Through the end of training in field
B1, the resultant vectors summarizing am continued to rotate in a clockwise direction
(Fig. 7, bottom). To quantify this adaptation across
subjects, we began by determining the orientation of individual
subjects' resultant vectors during null field and
B1 training. We rotated each subject's
activation functions so that the mean null field resultant vectors
pointed toward 0°. We then calculated the mean and 95% confidence
intervals of the orientations of the am vectors
during training in the null field and B1. The
results are shown in Figure 8.

View larger version (16K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
|
Figure 8.
Left, Perpendicular displacement of the hand
250 msec into the movement, averaged across movement directions, during
movements in null field and force field B1. Remaining plots,
Rotation of am resultant vectors during
movements in force field B1 with respect to null
field. Each point contains data from 64 movements. Each
point is mean and 95% confidence interval (across
subjects). Dotted lines represent 3 min breaks in
training.
|
|
As subjects made reaching movements in the null field, the orientation
of the EMG resultant vectors remained constant, and the curvature of
movements remained small. In the first bin of 64 movements in
B1, subjects' movements were markedly curved, with mean perpendicular displacement, averaged across directions, of
0.65 cm [Figure 8; 95% CIM, (0.55, 0.75) cm]. By the end of the
third set of training, subjects learned to make much straighter movements [mean perpendicular displacement,
0.03 cm; 95% CIM, (
0.13, 0.07) cm; in t test of curvature reduction,
p < 1 × 10
8]. The
am resultant vectors revealed that subjects
began to adapt their initial muscle activations in the first 2 min of
training. In the first bin of 64 movements in
B1, the orientations of the vectors summarizing
all four muscles had significantly rotated from the average null field
orientations (p < 0.002 for anterior deltoid;
p < 1 × 10
5 for other
muscles). Although these movements were still markedly curved, subjects
had begun to adapt their neuromotor output.
As subjects continued to train in B1, the
orientation of the am resultant vectors
continued to rotate farther away from the null field orientation. By
the end of the third set of training in B1, the
final directions of the am resultant vectors
were significantly different from the orientations early in training in
B1 (p < 0.05 for anterior deltoid;
p < 2 × 10
5 for other
muscles). The magnitudes of rotation of the am
resultant vectors over the three sets of training in
B1 were
33.7° for biceps,
28.0° for
triceps,
19.1° for anterior deltoid, and
15.6° for posterior
deltoid. These observed values were similar to the predictions made by
the simulated controller: within 7° for the flexors and within 2°
for the extensors. This result demonstrates a technique whereby a
computational model predicts the change that should occur in the
activations of muscles if the brain is learning an internal model
specific to a force field. The results show that the evolution of the
changes in muscle activations early into the movement are reasonably
close to the model's predictions.
Activation function rotation is specific to the force field
We have suggested that subjects learned to rotate their initial
muscle activations to accurately reach in the novel force field
B1. An alternate interpretation of our above
data would be that the observed rotation was a function of either an increased familiarity with the task itself, regardless of the force
field, or that the observed changes were a function of fatigue. To test
these alternate hypotheses, we presented one group of eight subjects
with the null field after having just completed B1 training.
When subjects were returned to the null field (Fig.
9), their hand trajectories were
initially curved, in the direction opposite the error initially
generated in B1 [mean perpendicular displacement,
0.57 cm; 95% CIM, (
0.71,
0.43)]; this curvature reveals aftereffects lasting minutes after training in
B1. After two sets (350 movements) of training,
however, the trajectories again resembled the straight movements made
in that day's first null field set [mean perpendicular displacement,
0.02 cm; 95% CIM, (
0.04, 0.08)].

View larger version (23K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
|
Figure 9.
Perpendicular displacement of the hand and
rotation of am resultant vectors in subjects
who, after training in B1, trained in the null
field 3 min later. Each point contains data from 64 movements. The first three data points are from the third set of
movements in B1. Error bars reflect 95%
confidence intervals of the mean (across subjects).
|
|
As subjects made straighter movements, they generated
movement-initiating muscle activations that reverted back to their
original dependence on the direction of the target. Over the last two
sets of training in the null field, the orientation of the
am resultant vectors all rotated
counterclockwise, back to the initial null field directions [amount of
rotation: mean (95% CIM) of the amount of rotation: biceps, 26.8°
(14.2°, 40.6°); triceps, 23.6° (16.8°, 29.3°); anterior
deltoid, 12.3° (4.7°, 19.1°); posterior deltoid, 17.7°
(15.1°, 20.4°); for all four muscles, p < 0.002].
The average resultant vectors in the last set of movements pointed in
directions statistically indistinguishable from the vectors summarizing
the am generated in the day's first null field
set (for all four muscles, p > 0.35).
The return of the orientation of the am
resultant vectors to the original direction indicated that the rotation
observed when subjects learned B1 was not
attributable to an increasing familiarity with the general task or to
fatigue but reflected a force field-specific change in the neural
command sent to the muscles.
Activation function rotation during training in B2
We have suggested that the subjects may have learned to make
movements in B1 by rotating the function mapping
desired end point to early muscle activation. To determine whether a
different rotation of this activation function could underlie learning
of other dynamic environments, we trained two groups of eight subjects each in B2, a force field anticorrelated to
B1. One group of eight subjects completed two
sets in B2 3 min after the three sets in
B1; the other group of eight subjects took a 6 hr break between the two force fields. In each of the subjects in these
groups, we measured the am generated for each
movement, binned the data across eight movements, and constructed
resultant vectors. We then determined the orientation of these vectors
compared with each subject's initial null field orientation.
The 6 hr group had their electrodes removed after the first training
session and reapplied for the second training session. Because the
preferred direction of EMG is independent of the total signal strength,
the resultant vector orientations calculated from the two sessions are
directly comparable.
In the first 64 movements in B2, both groups of
subjects made markedly curved movements [Fig.
10; across both groups, mean of
perpendicular displacement,
1.64 cm; 95% CIM, (
1.45,
1.84) cm].
After two sets of training, both groups of subjects made much
straighter movements [mean,
0.23 cm, 95% CIM, (
0.12,
0.34)
cm]. The 3 min group, however, generated movements that were more
curved than did the 6 hr group. A two-way ANOVA (two groups × six
bins) revealed that the group factor is significant (F(1,84) = 40.82; p < 1 × 10
8) and that in all but the last bin of
movements, the larger amount of curvature in the 3 min group is
significant (p < 0.05, Tukey test). The 3 min group
initially had more difficulty than the 6 hr group in making accurate
movements; this difference remained statistically significant through
10 min of training in B2.

View larger version (27K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
|
Figure 10.
Perpendicular displacement and rotation of
am resultant vectors in subjects who, after
training in B1, trained in
B2 3 minutes ( ) or 6 hr ( ) later. Each
point contains data from 64 movements. Error bars reflect
95% confidence intervals of the mean (across subjects). The first
three data points are from the third set of movements in
B1.
|
|
As both groups of subjects reduced the curvature of their movements,
subjects rotated their activation functions back to and beyond the
orientations appropriate for the null field. By the second set of
training in B2, all four
am resultant vectors pointed in directions that
were rotated clockwise from the activity appropriate for
B1; three of the four vectors pointed in directions significantly more clockwise than the directions appropriate for the null field [orientation of am vectors
in the second set of B2, mean (95% CIM):
biceps, 11.8° (6.2°, 17.3°); p < 1 × 10
4; triceps, 16.9° (11.4°, 22.2°);
p < 1 × 10
4; anterior
deltoid, 4.1° (
9.9°, 16.3°); p > 0.5;
posterior deltoid, 22.2° (17.3°, 26.8°); p < 1 × 10
4].
Although both groups produced muscle activations that rotated from the
null field activity, the initial responses of the 3 min group were less
adapted to B2 than were the initial responses of
the 6 hr group. The orientations of the am
resultant vectors were compared over the three bins spanning the first
set of training in B2 (Fig. 10, open
circles represent the 3 min group am,
filled circles represent the 6 hr group
am). We performed a two-way ANOVA (two
groups × three bins) on the am vector
orientations of biceps, triceps, and posterior deltoid. The
orientations of the am vectors of the 3 min
group had rotated significantly less than did the 6 hr group (for
biceps, F(1,42) = 5.3; p < 0.03; for triceps and posterior deltoid,
F(1,42) = 5.2; p < 0.03).
In the second set of training in B2 (i.e., after
192 movements), the 3 min group continued to lag behind the 6 hr group in their adaptation of their activation of their posterior deltoid. A
second round of two-way ANOVA on the am
resultant vectors revealed that the posterior deltoid activation of the
3 min group was significantly closer to the orientation of the null
field activation (F(1,42) = 11.25;
p < 0.002). By the second set of training in
B2, the two groups had begun to generate
activations of biceps and triceps whose resultant vectors pointed in
similar directions (for biceps, F(1,42) = 0.02; for triceps, F(1,42) = 0.43; for both, p > 0.5). Although both groups
learned equally well how to appropriately control the biceps and
triceps, subjects in the 3 min group continued to have added difficulty
controlling their posterior deltoid appropriately.
Even though the two groups train the same amount in both force fields,
the subjects with 3 min separating the two fields had more difficulty
generating muscle activations appropriate to B2. The lagging of the 3 min group suggests that the counterclockwise rotation of the activation function, that is, the internal model appropriate for B1, had lingered in these
subjects and had hampered their ability to adapt to
B2.
Anterior deltoid activation functions in the null field,
B1, and B2
Compared with each group's orientation in the null field, the 3 min and the 6 hr groups have different rotations of their anterior
deltoid activation functions in the last set of training in
B1 (Fig. 10). The difference between the two
groups stems not from differing orientations in
B1 but from differing initial orientations of
anterior deltoid activation functions during the null field (Fig.
11). Across the 24 subjects in all three groups, the variability of individual subject's activation function orientation in the null field was almost three times larger
for anterior than for posterior deltoid (size of 95% confidence intervals of the mean: biceps, 15.0°; triceps, 14.3°; anterior deltoid, 18.7°; posterior deltoid, 6.4°). Although the two groups of subjects had the same amount of training in the null field, the two
groups generated anterior deltoid effective fields that pointed in
different directions (3 min group mean, 113.7°; 6 hr group mean,
133.8°; in two-way ANOVA, two groups × three bins of movements
in null field set, F(1,42) = 6.69;
p < 0.02). The differences in activations led to different
movement profiles in the null field (in comparing mean perpendicular
velocity traces in movements made toward 135° and 180°, mean
correlation between groups, r = 0.04). Once the two
groups were well trained in B1, the anterior
deltoid activation functions then pointed in similar directions (3 min
group mean, 96.9°; 6 hr group mean, 100.0°; F(1,42) = 0.04; p > 0.8), and
the movement profiles of the two groups converged (135° and 180°
perpendicular velocity correlation between groups, r = 0.87).

View larger version (23K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
|
Figure 11.
Orientations of anterior deltoid resultant
vectors during training in the null field, B1,
and B2. Whereas the previous Figures 8-10
represent the rotation of am resultant vectors
with respect to null field orientations, this figure represents the
actual orientation during each stage of training. The symbols indicate
the mean orientations in subjects who had a 3 min ( ) or 6 hr ( )
separation between B1 and
B2. Error bars reflect 95% confidence intervals
of the mean (across subjects).
|
|
When the two groups trained in their first sets of movements in
B2, the mean of the orientations of the 3 min
group's anterior deltoid activation functions rotated less toward the counterclockwise direction than did the activation functions of the 6 hr group, but the difference between the groups is marginally significant (3 min group mean, 104.8°; 6 hr group mean, 125.4°; F(1,42) = 4.02; p < 0.055).
These results suggest that despite the high subject-to-subject
variation in anterior deltoid activation function orientation in the
null field, the actual orientations of the anterior deltoid activation
functions remained a good measure of internal model building during the
learning of novel dynamics.
Reduction of wasted contraction during practice in null field and
in B1
It has been shown that as subjects learn to move their wrist
against novel forces, they decrease the coincident activation of
flexors and extensors, thereby decreasing the stiffness of the joint
(Milner and Cloutier, 1993
). To quantify how co-contraction of muscles
changed during learning of multijoint reaching movements, we defined a
measure of wasted contraction. We partitioned subjects' EMG into
composite traces using the simulation's predictions of appropriate
muscle activations in the null field and field
B1 (Table 3). For each movement, we used these
coefficients to partition the four muscle traces into four
direction-independent composite traces. Among these four composite
traces, two pairs of traces produced forces that opposed each other. In
each opposing pair, at each moment in time, the weaker of the two
composite activations was cancelled by the stronger. We compared these
activations to determine, in each movement, time series of wasted
contraction and effective contraction.
The level of wasted contraction decreased with practice, both during
training in the null field and during learning of
B1 (Fig. 12). We
averaged the time series of wasted and effective contractions in each
subject across bins of 32 movements, scaled the wasted contraction as a
percentage of maximum effective contraction, and then averaged these
scaled wasted contractions across subjects. The peak of wasted
contraction occurred ~200 msec into the movement for all bins
spanning both fields. The magnitude of the peak of wasted contraction
was reduced by one-third over the course of a training set in both the
null field (from 43 to 29%; p < 0.005) and the first
set in B1 (from 54 to 35%; p < 0.005). Subjects did not decrease their wasted contraction over
training in the second or third sets in B1
(p > 0.5).

View larger version (34K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
|
Figure 12.
Wasted contraction during movements in null field
and B1. These plots show the wasted contraction
(as a percent of effective contraction), averaged across subjects, as a
function of time into each movement. Each line represents a
bin of 32 movements. The leftmost plot contains traces from
null field movements; the next three plots contain traces
from the three sets of training in B1. The
numbers inside the plot label the wasted contraction from
the first, second, and third bins of movements in each set.
|
|
During training in the null field, subjects also decreased their wasted
contraction generated during the beginning of the movement, the
interval over which the am above was calculated (average level in first bin of null, 24.5%; in last bin of null, 18.3%; p < 0.03). The mean level of early wasted
contraction also changed in the first set of B1
but not significantly (p > 0.2).
Whether the robot produced a viscous force field, the maximum levels of
wasted contraction occurred consistently at the midway point of the
movement. Subjects reduced their peak wasted contraction when they
first learned the novel force field B1, but
also, previously, when they again familiarized themselves with the well learned null field. This suggested that subjects may use wasted contraction to increase stiffness both when first regaining familiarity moving in previously learned environments and when first learning novel environments.
 |
DISCUSSION |
Subjects learned to reach in a novel viscous force field. The
convergence of movements onto previous (desired) trajectories, and the
existence of aftereffects when learned forces are removed, have
suggested that the adaptation of an internal model underlies this
learning (Shadmehr and Mussa-Ivaldi, 1994
; Shadmehr and Brashers-Krug, 1997
). The internal model hypothesis posits that the CNS effectively computes inverse dynamics, transforming desired trajectories into appropriate muscle activations. Here we used a simulation to predict that formation of the IM should accompany specific rotations in the
directional bias of muscle activation functions. We found that the
actual rotation of subjects' spatial EMG tuning curves closely matched
the predictions. The simulation also allowed us to estimate the
component of muscle activation functions that produced a force that
countered those in the force field. Using this transformation, we found
that early in training EMG changes were driven primarily by a delayed
error-feedback response. This feedback response may have formed the
template for the eventual learned feedforward response.
In generating reaching movements, the CNS combines two elements of
control: feedforward elements, which generate neural commands based on
information available before the movement (e.g., desired trajectory);
and feedback elements, which generate neural commands based on delayed
visual and proprioceptive signals received during the movement. In
recent computational models (Jordan, 1995
; Miall, 1995
; Bhushan and
Shadmehr, 1999
), it is assumed that feedback control provides an
estimate of error, i.e., the disagreement between the actual and
expected (or desired) sensory signals, and generates a delayed motor
response that attempts to correct that error. Here we found that when
subjects first moved in the field, their field-appropriate EMG was
generated quite late in the movement, after the movement had
significantly diverged from the desired trajectory. The timing of this
activation relative to the perturbing force suggested that the EMG was
generated by error-driven feedback control. During training, the shape
of this field-appropriate EMG remained essentially invariant, but its peak gradually shifted earlier and earlier into the movement. The
temporal shift culminated in a modification of the EMG pattern very
early into the movement, before proprioceptive or visual information
were available. This modified EMG pattern effectively predicted and
canceled the upcoming pattern of imposed forces. Therefore,
improvements in performance occurred as the CNS gradually incorporated
the error-feedback response of the system into the feedforward command
that initiated the movement.
Previous computational studies (Kawato et al., 1987
; Stroeve, 1997
)
have shown that the motor response generated by an error-feedback system may be used to learn inverse dynamics of reaching movements. These studies suggested that a copy of the error-feedback response may
be sent to the brain and then used to train the IM in a supervised learning paradigm. Our results support this general framework by
showing that learning may entail an incorporation of the
error-feedback response into the feedforward commands through a
gradual temporal shifting process.
To investigate how gradual changes in the EMG quantitatively
corresponded to IM formation, we investigated how learning an internal
model should change the directional tuning of muscle activation
functions. When humans make unconstrained reaching movements (or
isometrically resist force), initial EMG depends on direction of
movement (or imposed force) (Flanders and Soechting, 1990
; Flanders,
1991
; Karst and Hasan, 1991
). The resulting directionally tuned
function reveals, across the work space, how subjects' internal models
transform desired trajectory into muscle activations. Here we used a
simple biomechanical model, which computed torque based on a dynamic IM
of both the arm and the environment, to predict the shape of the tuning
functions. We focused on the EMG generated between 50 msec before and
100 msec after the initiation of the movement
(am). This period is likely to be
influenced by only the feedforward component of the descending commands
(Miall, 1995
; Kudo and Ohtsuki, 1998
), providing us with a window to
the formation of the internal model.
Using this computational approach, we initially predicted the shape of
the directionally tuned muscle activation functions for null field
movements, with no external perturbing forces. We found that the
predicted functions closely matched the measured EMG functions for the
four muscles examined (Fig. 7). We summarized the directional bias of
EMG functions by calculating the orientation of these functions'
resultant vectors (preferred directions). The resultant vectors
remained stable as well trained subjects performed reaching movements
in the null field. However, as training began in a force field, the
preferred direction of each muscle's EMG function began to rotate and
eventually reached an asymptote. The internal model theory had
predicted a specific rotation in each muscle's EMG function; that
prediction was confirmed. The preferred directions returned to initial
conditions when the force field was removed and reversed their
direction of rotation when the direction of imposed forces was
reversed. These results, therefore, signified an experience-dependent
adaptation of the IM. Our methods linked the computational concept of
learning an internal model with changes in the directional tuning of
muscle activation functions.
After training in field B1, some subjects
trained in the anticorrelated force field B2
either 3 min or 6 hr later. We had reported before that the 3 min group
has much more difficulty in both their initial response and eventual
adaptation to the second field (Brashers-Krug et al., 1996
; Shadmehr
and Brashers-Krug, 1997
). Here we found that in field
B2, not only are the movements made by the 3 min
group more disturbed than the 6 hr group, but the preferred directions
of biceps, triceps, and posterior deltoid are oriented in directions
more appropriate for B1 (less appropriate for
B2) than the 6 hr group. The lingering rotations
of the preferred directions provide physiological evidence that, 3 min
after training, the internal model appropriate for the field just
learned is still active and biasing the subjects' ability to learn the
second force field. After 6 hr have passed, the internal model no
longer lingers, and subjects can learn the newest dynamics with
relative ease. The results also demonstrate the robustness of the
methodology in that we could compare changes in muscle activation
functions despite removal and reapplication of surface electrodes in
the 6 hr group.
Previous studies that have recorded EMG changes during motor learning
have focused on single-joint movements and have reported increases or
decreases in the magnitudes of EMG traces to demonstrate changes in
neural output (Corcos et al., 1993
; Gottlieb, 1994
, 1996
). Quantitative
comparisons of these changes in magnitude with the concept of learning
of an internal model are difficult because of the intrinsic variability
in the strength of the signal and the difficulty in relating the
absolute magnitude of EMG and generation of force. In contrast, the
methods used here focus on the directional and temporal nature of the
data for multijoint movements. The directional bias and the timing of
the muscle activations are independent of the overall signal strength;
this independence facilitates the analysis of adaptation across
subjects and the quantitative comparison of EMG and computational models.
The orientation of muscle activation functions are reminiscent of the
preferred direction of primary motor cortical neurons (Georgopoulos et
al., 1982
, 1986
) in that both summarize the dependence of neuronal
activity on the direction of movement. In the motor cortex, the
preferred direction of some cells changes when movements are made in
different postures (Sergio and Kalaska, 1997
; Scott and Kalaska, 1997
).
A recent study has shown that the rotation of preferred direction of
some cells was similar to the rotation of the directional bias of
muscle activation functions (Sergio and Kalaska, 1997
). Therefore, the
rotation in the muscle activation functions that occurs with learning
of an internal model might echo a similar change in the preferred
direction of certain cortical cells. Indeed, preliminary results (Benda
et al., 1997
; Li et al., 1998
) suggest that the tuning of select cells
in a monkey's primary motor cortex rotates when the animal learns a
force field similar to the one used here.
Previous work has also shown that in making single-joint movements,
subjects tend to reduce the level of co-contraction of flexors and
extensors as they learn to move a novel load (Milner and Cloutier,
1993
). Here we quantified co-contraction because subjects could respond
to novel dynamics by simply stiffening the limb through co-contraction,
rendering the arm less vulnerable to perturbations (Hogan, 1984
).
Therefore, one might predict that during learning of a novel task,
co-activation levels should start high but decline as the internal
model is acquired. Here we found that co-contraction levels (termed
wasted contraction to denote the EMG that was directly cancelled by
opposing activation) did significantly increase from null field to when
subjects were initially exposed to the force field. With learning in
the force field, the co-contraction levels declined rapidly during the
initial 96 movements but remained stable with further training. The
same reduction in wasted contraction, however, was also observed when subjects moved in that day's first set in the null field, a
well-learned dynamic environment. These results suggest that the CNS
increases the limb's stiffness to reduce the effect of "unmodeled
dynamics" early in the learning process and reduces limb stiffness as
dynamics are learned. The increased wasted contraction in the null
field extends this idea to well learned dynamics; higher stiffness may facilitate the recollection of an internal model that is appropriate but stored in long-term memory.
Linking IM formation to rotation of the muscle-tuning functions raises
two interesting possibilities regarding the computational organization
of the internal model. First, we had previously reported that learning
of a force field at a given arm configuration resulted in
generalization at a new arm configuration (Shadmehr and Mussa-Ivaldi, 1994
). Because learning a field at a given arm configuration results in
a rotation of the muscle-tuning functions, it is possible that the
magnitude of rotation is conserved when the arm must make movements at
a new configuration. This would result in generalization of the force
field in joint coordinates. Second, we have observed that certain force
fields are much easier to learn than others. Because learning of each
field is coupled to a specific rotation in the muscle-tuning functions,
it is possible that the degree of difficulty in learning a field
relates to how much each tuning function needs to rotate to represent
that field. Further research is needed to examine whether the link
between internal models and muscle tuning functions can be used to
understand representation of IMs by the CNS.
 |
FOOTNOTES |
Received Feb. 3, 1999; revised July 1, 1999; accepted July 12, 1999.
This work was funded in part by grants from the US Office of Naval
Research, National Institutes of Health Grant 1-RO1-NS37422, and the
Whitaker Foundation; K.A.T. is also supported by a Biomedical Engineering Research Traineeship from the National Science Foundation (EEC9256763). This work has been greatly enriched by our interactions with Maurice Smith, Nikhil Bhushan, and Emilio Bizzi. We thank Martha
Flanders for very helpful comments on a draft of this paper.
Correspondence should be addressed to Kurt Thoroughman, Johns Hopkins
School of Medicine, 416 Traylor Building, 720 Rutland Avenue,
Baltimore, MD 21205-2195.
 |
REFERENCES |
-
Atkeson CG
(1989)
Learning arm kinematics and dynamics.
Annu Rev Neurosci
12:157-183[Web of Science][Medline].
-
Barto AG,
Fagg AH,
Sitkoff N,
Houk JC
(1999)
A cerebellar model of timing and prediction in the control of reaching.
Neural Comput
11:565-594[Web of Science][Medline].
-
Benda BJ,
Gandolfo F,
Li CSR,
Tresch MC,
DiLorenzo D,
Bizzi E
(1997)
Neuronal activities in M1 of a macaque monkey during reaching movements in a viscous force field.
Soc Neurosci Abstr
23:1556.
-
Bhushan N,
Shadmehr R
(1999)
Computational architecture of human adaptive control during learning of reaching movements in force fields.
Biol Cybern
81:39-60[Web of Science][Medline].
-
Brashers-Krug T,
Shadmehr R,
Bizzi E
(1996)
Consolidation in human motor memory.
Nature
382:252-255[Medline].
-
Corcos DM,
Jaric S,
Agarwal GC,
Gottlieb G
(1993)
Principles for learning single-joint movements. I. enhanced performance by practice.
Exp Brain Res
94:499-513[Web of Science][Medline].
-
De Luca CJ
(1997)
The use of surface electromyography in biomechanics.
J Appl Biomech
13:135-163.
-
Fisher NI
(1993)
In: Statistical analysis of circular data. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP.
-
Flanders M
(1991)
Temporal patterns of muscle activation for arm movements in three-dimensional space.
J Neurosci
11:2680-2693[Abstract].
-
Flanders M,
Soechting JF
(1990)
Arm muscle activation for static forces in three-dimensional space.
J Neurophysiol
64:1818-1837[Abstract/Free Full Text].
-
Flash T,
Hogan N
(1985)
The coordination of arm movements: an experimentally confirmed mathematical model.
J Neurosci
5:1688-1703[Abstract].
-
Georgopoulos AP,
Kalaska JF,
Caminiti R,
Massey J
(1982)
On the relations between the direction of two-dimensional arm movements and cell discharge in primate motor cortex.
J Neurosci
2:1527-1537[Abstract].
-
Georgopoulos AP,
Schwartz AB,
Kettner RE
(1986)
Neuronal population coding of movement direction.
Science
233:1416-1419[Abstract/Free Full Text].
-
Gottlieb GL
(1994)
The generation of the efferent command and the importance of joint compliance in fast elbow movements.
Exp Brain Res
97:545-550[Web of Science][Medline].
-
Gottlieb GL
(1996)
On the voluntary movement of compliant (inertial-viscoelastic) loads by parcellated control mechanisms.
J Neurophysiol
76:3207-3229[Abstract/Free Full Text].
-
Hogan N
(1984)
Adaptive control of mechanical impedance by coactivation of antagonist muscles.
IEEE Trans Automatic Control
AC-29:681-690.
-
Jordan MI
(1995)
Computational motor control.
In: The cognitive neurosciences (Gazzaniga MS,
ed), pp 597-609. Boston: MIT.
-
Karst GM,
Hasan Z
(1991)
Initiation rules for planar, two-joint arm movements: agonist selection for movements throughout the work space.
J Neurophysiol
66:1579-1593[Abstract/Free Full Text].
-
Kawato M,
Furukawa K,
Suzuki R
(1987)
A hierarchical neural-network model for control and learning of voluntary movement.
Biol Cybern
57:169-185[Web of Science][Medline].
-
Kudo K,
Ohtsuki T
(1998)
Functional modification of agonist-antagonist electromyographic activity for rapid movement inhibition.
Exp Brain Res
122:23-30[Web of Science][Medline].
-
Li CSR,
Benda BJ,
Padoa Schioppa C,
Gandolfo F,
DiLorenzo D,
Bizzi E
(1998)
Neuronal plasticity in the motor cortex of monkeys learning to adapt to a viscous force field.
Soc Neurosci Abstr
24:405.
-
Marsden CD,
Merton PA,
Morton HB,
Adam JER,
Hallett M
(1978)
Automatic and voluntary responses to muscle stretch in man.
Prog Clin Neurophysiol
4:167-177.
-
Miall RC
(1995)
Motor control, biological and theoretical.
In: The handbook of brain theory and neural networks (Arbib MA,
ed), pp 597-600. Cambridge, MA: MIT.
-
Miall RC,
Wolpert DM
(1996)
Forward models for physiological motor control.
Neural Networks
9:1265-1279.[Web of Science][Medline]
-
Milner TE,
Cloutier C
(1993)
Compensation for mechanically unstable loading in voluntary wrist movement.
Exp Brain Res
94:522-532[Web of Science][Medline].
-
Mussa-Ivaldi FA,
Hogan N,
Bizzi E
(1985)
Neural, mechanical and geometric factors subserving arm posture in humans.
J Neurosci
5:2732-2743[Abstract].
-
Scott SH,
Kalaska JF
(1997)
Reaching movements with similar hand paths but different arm orientation: I. Activity of individual cells in motor cortex.
J Neurophysiol
77:826-852[Abstract/Free Full Text].
-
Sergio LE,
Kalaska JF
(1997)
Systematic changes in directional tuning of motor cortex cell activity with hand location in the workspace during generation of static isometric forces in constant spatial directions.
J Neurophysiol
78:1170-1174[Abstract/Free Full Text].
-
Sergio LE,
Kalaska JF
(1998)
Changes in the temporal pattern of primary motor cortex activity in a directional isometric force versus limb movement task.
J Neurophysiol
80:1577-1583[Abstract/Free Full Text].
-
Shadmehr R,
Brashers-Krug T
(1997)
Functional stages in the formation of human long-term motor memory.
J Neurosci
17:409-419[Abstract/Free Full Text].
-
Shadmehr R,
Mussa-Ivaldi FA
(1994)
Adaptive representation of dynamics during learning of a motor task.
J Neurosci
14:3208-3224[Abstract].
-
Stroeve S
(1997)
A learning feedback and feedforward neuromuscular control model for two degrees of freedom human arm movements.
Hum Movement Sci
16:621-651.[Web of Science]
-
Thoroughman KA,
Shadmehr R
(1998)
Changes in EMG during learning of reaching movements.
Soc Neurosci Abstr
24:419.
-
Wada Y,
Kawato M
(1993)
A neural network model for arm trajectory formation using forward and inverse dynamics models.
Neural Networks
6:919-932.[Web of Science]
-
Welsh AH
(1996)
In: Aspects of statistical inference. New York: Wiley.
-
Wolpert DM,
Ghahramani Z,
Jordan MI
(1995)
An internal model for sensorimotor integration.
Science
269:1880-1882[Abstract/Free Full Text].
-
Wolpert DM,
Miall RC,
Kawato M
(1998)
Internal models in the cerebellum.
Trends Cognit Sci
2:338-347.[Web of Science]
-
Wood JE,
Meek SG,
Jacobsen SC
(1989)
Quantitation of human shoulder anatomy for prosthetic arm control
II. Anatomy matrices.
J Biomech
22:309-325[Web of Science][Medline].
Copyright © 1999 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/99/19198573-16$05.00/0
This article has been cited by other articles:

|
 |

|
 |
 
N. Cothros, J. Wong, and P. L. Gribble
Visual Cues Signaling Object Grasp Reduce Interference in Motor Learning
J Neurophysiol,
October 1, 2009;
102(4):
2112 - 2120.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
T. Hunter, P. Sacco, M. A. Nitsche, and D. L. Turner
Modulation of internal model formation during force field-induced motor learning by anodal transcranial direct current stimulation of primary motor cortex
J. Physiol.,
June 15, 2009;
587(12):
2949 - 2961.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
M. Darainy, A. A. G. Mattar, and D. J. Ostry
Effects of Human Arm Impedance on Dynamics Learning and Generalization
J Neurophysiol,
June 1, 2009;
101(6):
3158 - 3168.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
J. Wong, E. T. Wilson, N. Malfait, and P. L. Gribble
The Influence of Visual Perturbations on the Neural Control of Limb Stiffness
J Neurophysiol,
January 1, 2009;
101(1):
246 - 257.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
D. W. Franklin, E. Burdet, K. Peng Tee, R. Osu, C.-M. Chew, T. E. Milner, and M. Kawato
CNS Learns Stable, Accurate, and Efficient Movements Using a Simple Algorithm
J. Neurosci.,
October 29, 2008;
28(44):
11165 - 11173.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
I. S. Howard, J. N. Ingram, and D. M. Wolpert
Composition and Decomposition in Bimanual Dynamic Learning
J. Neurosci.,
October 15, 2008;
28(42):
10531 - 10540.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
M. J. Wagner and M. A. Smith
Shared Internal Models for Feedforward and Feedback Control
J. Neurosci.,
October 15, 2008;
28(42):
10663 - 10673.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
S. Tremblay, G. Houle, and D. J. Ostry
Specificity of Speech Motor Learning
J. Neurosci.,
March 5, 2008;
28(10):
2426 - 2434.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
A. G. Richardson, G. Lassi-Tucci, C. Padoa-Schioppa, and E. Bizzi
Neuronal Activity in the Cingulate Motor Areas During Adaptation to a New Dynamic Environment
J Neurophysiol,
March 1, 2008;
99(3):
1253 - 1266.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
A. Hadipour-Niktarash, C. K. Lee, J. E. Desmond, and R. Shadmehr
Impairment of Retention But Not Acquisition of a Visuomotor Skill Through Time-Dependent Disruption of Primary Motor Cortex
J. Neurosci.,
December 5, 2007;
27(49):
13413 - 13419.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
A. A. G. Mattar and D. J. Ostry
Modifiability of Generalization in Dynamics Learning
J Neurophysiol,
December 1, 2007;
98(6):
3321 - 3329.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
M. R. Hinder and T. E. Milner
Rapid Adaptation to Scaled Changes of the Mechanical Environment
J Neurophysiol,
November 1, 2007;
98(5):
3072 - 3080.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
K. G. Keenan and F. J. Valero-Cuevas
Experimentally Valid Predictions of Muscle Force and EMG in Models of Motor-Unit Function Are Most Sensitive to Neural Properties
J Neurophysiol,
September 1, 2007;
98(3):
1581 - 1590.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
K. A. Thoroughman, W. Wang, and D. N. Tomov
Influence of Viscous Loads on Motor Planning
J Neurophysiol,
August 1, 2007;
98(2):
870 - 877.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
Y.-w. Tseng, J. Diedrichsen, J. W. Krakauer, R. Shadmehr, and A. J. Bastian
Sensory Prediction Errors Drive Cerebellum-Dependent Adaptation of Reaching
J Neurophysiol,
July 1, 2007;
98(1):
54 - 62.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
A. J. Suminski, S. M. Rao, K. M. Mosier, and R. A. Scheidt
Neural and Electromyographic Correlates of Wrist Posture Control
J Neurophysiol,
February 1, 2007;
97(2):
1527 - 1545.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
P. M. Bays and D. M. Wolpert
Computational principles of sensorimotor control that minimize uncertainty and variability
J. Physiol.,
January 15, 2007;
578(2):
387 - 396.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
A. Jackson, J. Mavoori, and E. E. Fetz
Correlations Between the Same Motor Cortex Cells and Arm Muscles During a Trained Task, Free Behavior, and Natural Sleep in the Macaque Monkey
J Neurophysiol,
January 1, 2007;
97(1):
360 - 374.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
A. G. Richardson, S. A. Overduin, A. Valero-Cabre, C. Padoa-Schioppa, A. Pascual-Leone, E. Bizzi, and D. Z. Press
Disruption of Primary Motor Cortex before Learning Impairs Memory of Movement Dynamics
J. Neurosci.,
November 29, 2006;
26(48):
12466 - 12470.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
H. Chen, S. E. Hua, M. A. Smith, F. A. Lenz, and R. Shadmehr
Effects of Human Cerebellar Thalamus Disruption on Adaptive Control of Reaching
Cereb Cortex,
October 1, 2006;
16(10):
1462 - 1473.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
T. E. Milner and M. R. Hinder
Position Information But Not Force Information Is Used in Adapting to Changes in Environmental Dynamics
J Neurophysiol,
August 1, 2006;
96(2):
526 - 534.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
A. J. Fuglevand, A. P. Dutoit, R. K. Johns, and D. A. Keen
Evaluation of plateau-potential-mediated 'warm up' in human motor units
J. Physiol.,
March 15, 2006;
571(3):
683 - 693.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
T. Lam, M. Anderschitz, and V. Dietz
Contribution of Feedback and Feedforward Strategies to Locomotor Adaptations
J Neurophysiol,
February 1, 2006;
95(2):
766 - 773.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
L. E. Sergio, C. Hamel-Paquet, and J. F. Kalaska
Motor Cortex Neural Correlates of Output Kinematics and Kinetics During Isometric-Force and Arm-Reaching Tasks
J Neurophysiol,
October 1, 2005;
94(4):
2353 - 2378.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
T. E. Milner and D. W. Franklin
Impedance control and internal model use during the initial stage of adaptation to novel dynamics in humans
J. Physiol.,
September 1, 2005;
567(2):
651 - 664.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
V. Della-Maggiore, N. Malfait, D. J. Ostry, and T. Paus
Stimulation of the Posterior Parietal Cortex Interferes with Arm Trajectory Adjustments during the Learning of New Dynamics
J. Neurosci.,
November 3, 2004;
24(44):
9971 - 9976.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
T. Lam and V. Dietz
Transfer of Motor Performance in an Obstacle Avoidance Task to Different Walking Conditions
J Neurophysiol,
October 1, 2004;
92(4):
2010 - 2016.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
N. Malfait and D. J. Ostry
Is Interlimb Transfer of Force-Field Adaptation a Cognitive Response to the Sudden Introduction of Load?
J. Neurosci.,
September 15, 2004;
24(37):
8084 - 8089.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
M. B. Shapiro, G. L. Gottlieb, and D. M. Corcos
EMG Responses to an Unexpected Load in Fast Movements Are Delayed With an Increase in the Expected Movement Time
J Neurophysiol,
May 1, 2004;
91(5):
2135 - 2147.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
M. Maschke, C. M. Gomez, T. J. Ebner, and J. Konczak
Hereditary Cerebellar Ataxia Progressively Impairs Force Adaptation During Goal-Directed Arm Movements
J Neurophysiol,
January 1, 2004;
91(1):
230 - 238.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
C. Padoa-Schioppa, C.-S. R. Li, and E. Bizzi
Neuronal Activity in the Supplementary Motor Area of Monkeys Adapting to a New Dynamic Environment
J Neurophysiol,
January 1, 2004;
91(1):
449 - 473.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
W. J. Kargo and D. A. Nitz
Early Skill Learning Is Expressed through Selection and Tuning of Cortically Represented Muscle Synergies
J. Neurosci.,
December 3, 2003;
23(35):
11255 - 11269.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
R. Osu, E. Burdet, D. W. Franklin, T. E. Milner, and M. Kawato
Different Mechanisms Involved in Adaptation to Stable and Unstable Dynamics
J Neurophysiol,
November 1, 2003;
90(5):
3255 - 3269.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
D. W. Franklin, R. Osu, E. Burdet, M. Kawato, and T. E. Milner
Adaptation to Stable and Unstable Dynamics Achieved By Combined Impedance Control and Inverse Dynamics Model
J Neurophysiol,
November 1, 2003;
90(5):
3270 - 3282.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
O. Donchin, J. T. Francis, and R. Shadmehr
Quantifying Generalization from Trial-by-Trial Behavior of Adaptive Systems that Learn with Basis Functions: Theory and Experiments in Human Motor Control
J. Neurosci.,
October 8, 2003;
23(27):
9032 - 9045.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
P. L. Gribble, L. I. Mullin, N. Cothros, and A. Mattar
Role of Cocontraction in Arm Movement Accuracy
J Neurophysiol,
May 1, 2003;
89(5):
2396 - 2405.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
N. I. Krouchev and J. F. Kalaska
Context-Dependent Anticipation of Different Task Dynamics: Rapid Recall of Appropriate Motor Skills Using Visual Cues
J Neurophysiol,
February 1, 2003;
89(2):
1165 - 1175.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
L. E. Sergio and J. F. Kalaska
Systematic Changes in Motor Cortex Cell Activity With Arm Posture During Directional Isometric Force Generation
J Neurophysiol,
January 1, 2003;
89(1):
212 - 228.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
S. E. Criscimagna-Hemminger, O. Donchin, M. S. Gazzaniga, and R. Shadmehr
Learned Dynamics of Reaching Movements Generalize From Dominant to Nondominant Arm
J Neurophysiol,
January 1, 2003;
89(1):
168 - 176.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
O. Donchin, L. Sawaki, G. Madupu, L. G. Cohen, and R. Shadmehr
Mechanisms Influencing Acquisition and Recall of Motor Memories
J Neurophysiol,
October 1, 2002;
88(4):
2114 - 2123.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
G. Ariff, O. Donchin, T. Nanayakkara, and R. Shadmehr
A Real-Time State Predictor in Motor Control: Study of Saccadic Eye Movements during Unseen Reaching Movements
J. Neurosci.,
September 1, 2002;
22(17):
7721 - 7729.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
P. Baraduc and D. M. Wolpert
Adaptation to a Visuomotor Shift Depends on the Starting Posture
J Neurophysiol,
August 1, 2002;
88(2):
973 - 981.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
R. Osu, D. W. Franklin, H. Kato, H. Gomi, K. Domen, T. Yoshioka, and M. Kawato
Short- and Long-Term Changes in Joint Co-Contraction Associated With Motor Learning as Revealed From Surface EMG
J Neurophysiol,
August 1, 2002;
88(2):
991 - 1004.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
J. B. Dingwell, C. D. Mah, and F. A. Mussa-Ivaldi
Manipulating Objects With Internal Degrees of Freedom: Evidence for Model-Based Control
J Neurophysiol,
July 1, 2002;
88(1):
222 - 235.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
J. E. Misiaszek and K. G. Pearson
Adaptive Changes in Locomotor Activity Following Botulinum Toxin Injection in Ankle Extensor Muscles of Cats
J Neurophysiol,
January 1, 2002;
87(1):
229 - 239.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
R. A. Scheidt, J. B. Dingwell, and F. A. Mussa-Ivaldi
Learning to Move Amid Uncertainty
J Neurophysiol,
August 1, 2001;
86(2):
971 - 985.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
M. S. Brainard and A. J. Doupe
Postlearning Consolidation of Birdsong: Stabilizing Effects of Age and Anterior Forebrain Lesions
J. Neurosci.,
April 1, 2001;
21(7):
2501 - 2517.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
G. Bosco and R. E. Poppele
Proprioception From a Spinocerebellar Perspective
Physiol Rev,
April 1, 2001;
81(2):
539 - 568.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
R. Shadmehr and Z. M. K. Moussavi
Spatial Generalization from Learning Dynamics of Reaching Movements
J. Neurosci.,
October 15, 2000;
20(20):
7807 - 7815.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|