Psychophysical determination of coordinate representation of human arm orientation

doi:10.1016/0306-4522(84)90252-5

Neuroscience

Volume 13, Issue 2, October 1984, Pages 595-604

https://doi.org/10.1016/0306-4522(84)90252-5 Get rights and content

Abstract

The coordinate representation of the sense of limb orientation was investigated psychophysically by asking subjects to match the orientation of the arm or of the forearm in several different coordinate representations. Movement of all degrees of freedom of one arm was permitted while movement of the other limb was restricted to the degree of freedom investigated in that particular experiment. Performance on the tasks was assessed by calculating the standard deviation of the difference in the angles of the two limbs. According to this criterion, we suggest that limb orientation is represented by the angular elevation of the limb and by the yaw angle, referred to a spatial reference frame.

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Cited by (102)

Acuity of Proprioceptive Localization Varies with Body Region
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We accurately sense locations of objects touching various points on the body and, if they are irritants, make accurate rapid movements to remove them. Such movements require accurate proprioception of orientation and motion of the reaching limb and of the target. However, it is unknown whether acuity of these sensations is similar for different points on the body. We investigated accuracy of comfortable speed reaching movements of the right index-tip by 10 subjects (five females) to touch 12 different body locations with and without vision with the body part stationary in different locations and moving in different directions. Reaching movements to points on the face/head and trunk had mean errors averaging less than 0.2 cm greater than under vision conditions. Mean errors for reaches to touch points on the left arm and digits were less accurate (p < 0.05), but average less than 1 cm relative to vision conditions. Mean errors for reaches to touch points on the left lower limb were least accurate (p < 0.05), with mean errors averaging 1.5–3.1 cm relative to movements made with vision. We conclude that there is high proprioceptive acuity for locations of points on axial structures and the left upper limb including the digits, which contrasts with previous reports of greatly distorted proprioceptive maps of the face/head and hand. Apparently low proprioceptive acuity for points on the leg may be task sensitive as many lower limb motor tasks can be performed accurately without vision.
Transformation from arm joint coordinates to hand external coordinates explains non-uniform precision of hand position sense in horizontal workspace
2022, Human Movement Science
Citation Excerpt :
We also computed joint precision from the mean experimental hand precision ellipse (Model 3, Table 2). Values of the precision of position sense at the shoulder and elbow measured more directly in unilateral or in bilateral joint angle matching experiments (Bevan, Cordo, Carlton, & Carlton, 1994; Darling, 1991; Fuentes & Bastian, 2010; Inglis, Frank, & Inglis, 1991; Lonn, Crenshaw, Djupsjobacka, & Johansson, 2000; Soechting, 1982; Soechting & Ross, 1984) are in the range of 3o–9o, after correcting for joint position perception in both reference and matching arms (Fuentes & Bastian, 2010; van Beers et al., 1998). Thus, all our estimates of the angular position precision at the shoulder and elbow, including those computed from the experimental hand precision ellipses (Model 3: 3.45o and 4.41o, respectively), are in the lower half or in the middle of the range of values reported in the literature.
People perceive hand position in horizontal workspace more precisely in radial than in azimuth directions and closer to the body than farther away. Current explanations for this position sense non-uniformity include spatial asymmetry in arm proprioceptive activities and/or cortex maps, experience-dependent learning, arm posture, and others. Here we investigated contributions to this non-uniformity of a posture-dependent transformation from arm joint angles, sensed by arm proprioceptors, to hand position. We measured precision of hand position sense in a bimanual hand mirror-position matching task at four horizontal targets forming a square in front of the body in 11 blindfolded individuals. We found lower hand precision in azimuth than in radial direction, higher azimuth precision at close targets, and higher radial precision at distant targets. We then theoretically analyzed the transformation of random angle errors at shoulder and elbow into hand position random errors in a horizontal plane and obtained similar distributions of hand position errors. The predicted and experimental hand-precision ellipse orientations, but not ellipse shapes or sizes, were highly correlated and were nearly orthogonal to arm stiffness ellipse orientations reported in the literature. We concluded that the joint-to-hand coordinate transformation is responsible for the non-uniform precision of hand position sense.
Models of human movement: Trajectory planning and inverse kinematics studies
2013, Robotics and Autonomous Systems
Citation Excerpt :
In studying human movement it is important to determine what type of coordinate frames, absolute or relative, egocentric or allocentric, subserve internal motor representations. Soechting and Ross [46] addressed the issue of the internal representation of human arm configuration in a series of behavioral studies. Examining several possible coordinate frames as described in [47] they found that the sense of limb orientation is most probably internally represented in an absolute frame of reference in which orientations of the upper arm and the forearm are expressed by their elevation angles with respect to gravity and by their azimuth angles.
The seemingly simple everyday actions of moving limb and body to accomplish a motor task or interact with the environment are incredibly complex. To reach for a target we first need to sense the target’s position with respect to an external coordinate system; we then need to plan a limb trajectory which is executed by issuing an appropriate series of neural commands to the muscles. These, in turn, exert appropriate forces and torques on the joints leading to the desired movement of the arm. Here we review some of the earlier work as well as more recent studies on the control of human movement, focusing on behavioral and modeling studies dealing with task space and joint-space movement planning. At the task level, we describe studies investigating trajectory planning and inverse kinematics problems during point-to-point reaching movements as well as two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) drawing movements. We discuss models dealing with the two-thirds power law, particularly differential geometrical approaches dealing with the relation between path geometry and movement velocity. We also discuss optimization principles such as the minimum-jerk model and the isochrony principle for point-to-point and curved movements.
We next deal with joint-space movement planning and generation, discussing the inverse kinematics problem and common solutions to the problems of kinematic redundancy. We address the question of which reference frames are used by the nervous system and review studies examining the employment of kinematic constraints such as Donders’ and Listing’s laws. We also discuss optimization approaches based on Riemannian geometry.
One principle of motor coordination during human locomotion emerging from this body of work is the intersegmental law of coordination. However, the nature of the coordinate systems underlying motion planning remains of interest as they are related to the principles governing the control of human arm movements.
High-performance neuroprosthetic control by an individual with tetraplegia
2013, The Lancet
Citation Excerpt :
For many activities of daily living, an individual needs to be able to position the hand in space, orient the palm, and grasp an object. These hand movements are normally smoothly coordinated and follow the general principles of natural movement.1–3 Ideally a brain–machine interface will translate neural activity into control of an external device with the capability of producing natural movements in accordance with the general principles.
Paralysis or amputation of an arm results in the loss of the ability to orient the hand and grasp, manipulate, and carry objects, functions that are essential for activities of daily living. Brain–machine interfaces could provide a solution to restoring many of these lost functions. We therefore tested whether an individual with tetraplegia could rapidly achieve neurological control of a high-performance prosthetic limb using this type of an interface.
We implanted two 96-channel intracortical microelectrodes in the motor cortex of a 52-year-old individual with tetraplegia. Brain–machine-interface training was done for 13 weeks with the goal of controlling an anthropomorphic prosthetic limb with seven degrees of freedom (three-dimensional translation, three-dimensional orientation, one-dimensional grasping). The participant's ability to control the prosthetic limb was assessed with clinical measures of upper limb function. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01364480.
The participant was able to move the prosthetic limb freely in the three-dimensional workspace on the second day of training. After 13 weeks, robust seven-dimensional movements were performed routinely. Mean success rate on target-based reaching tasks was 91·6% (SD 4·4) versus median chance level 6·2% (95% CI 2·0–15·3). Improvements were seen in completion time (decreased from a mean of 148 s [SD 60] to 112 s [6]) and path efficiency (increased from 0·30 [0·04] to 0·38 [0·02]). The participant was also able to use the prosthetic limb to do skilful and coordinated reach and grasp movements that resulted in clinically significant gains in tests of upper limb function. No adverse events were reported.
With continued development of neuroprosthetic limbs, individuals with long-term paralysis could recover the natural and intuitive command signals for hand placement, orientation, and reaching, allowing them to perform activities of daily living.
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, National Institutes of Health, Department of Veterans Affairs, and UPMC Rehabilitation Institute.
Contributions of vision and proprioception to arm movement planning in the vertical plane
2011, Neuroscience Letters
The roles of visual and somatosensory information in arm movement planning remain enigmatic. Previous studies have examined these roles by dissociating visual and somatosensory cues about limb position prior to movement onset and examining the resulting effects on movements performed in the horizontal plane. Here we examined the effects of misaligned limb position cues prior to movement onset as reaches were planned and executed along different directions in the vertical plane. Movements were planned with somatosensory and visual feedback aligned at the starting position of the reach or with visual feedback displaced horizontally (Experiment 1) or vertically (Experiment 2). As in the horizontal plane, changes in movement directions induced by misaligned feedback indicated that vision and proprioception were both generally taken into account when planning vertical plane movements. However, we also found evidence that the contributions of vision and proprioception differed across target directions and between directions of displaced visual feedback. These findings suggest that the contributions of vision and proprioception to movement planning in the vertical plane reflect the unique multisensory and biomechanical demands associated with moving against gravity.
Brain-Controlled Interfaces: Movement Restoration with Neural Prosthetics
2006, Neuron
Citation Excerpt :
However, to accomplish anthropomorphic joint rotations, another layer of complexity is needed, since an anthropomorphic arm has more degrees of freedom than endpoint coordinate axes. For the elbow and shoulder joints, good performance can be obtained with a relatively simple procedure (Soechting and Ross, 1984; Kang et al., 2005). However, an equivalent framework for the much larger complexity of the wrist, hand, and fingers is unknown.
Brain-controlled interfaces are devices that capture brain transmissions involved in a subject's intention to act, with the potential to restore communication and movement to those who are immobilized. Current devices record electrical activity from the scalp, on the surface of the brain, and within the cerebral cortex. These signals are being translated to command signals driving prosthetic limbs and computer displays. Somatosensory feedback is being added to this control as generated behaviors become more complex. New technology to engineer the tissue-electrode interface, electrode design, and extraction algorithms to transform the recorded signal to movement will help translate exciting laboratory demonstrations to patient practice in the near future.

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View full text

Psychophysical determination of coordinate representation of human arm orientation

Abstract

Physiol. Behav.

Neuroscience

Neuroscience

Brain Res.

Brain Res.

Anthropomorphic robotics. I. Representing mechanical complexity

Biol. Cybern.

Electrogoniometer for the measurement of human elbow joint rotation

J. biomech. Engng

Multi-joint neurons in somatosensory cortex of awake monkeys

Brain Res.

Somatosensory system: organizational hierarchy from single units in monkey area 5

Science, N.Y.

Spatial trajectories and reaction times of aimed movements: effects of practice, uncertainty and change in target location

J. Neurophys.

The perception of visual surfaces

Am. J. Psychol.

Classical Mechanics

The contribution of muscle afferents to kinaesthesia shown by vibration induced illusion of movements and by the effects of paralysing joint afferents

Brain