JN Information on EB 2010
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
 QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     


J Neurophysiol (October 28, 2009). doi:10.1152/jn.00494.2009
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Fuentes, C. T
Right arrow Articles by Bastian, A. J
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Fuentes, C. T
Right arrow Articles by Bastian, A. J
Submitted on June 5, 2009
Revised on October 13, 2009
Accepted on October 15, 2009

Where is your arm? Variations in proprioception across space and tasks

Christina T Fuentes1 and Amy J Bastian2*

1 Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
2 Kennedy Krieger Inst

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: bastian-jnp{at}kennedykrieger.org.

The sense of limb position is crucial for movement control and environmental interactions. Our understanding of this fundamental proprioceptive process, however, is limited. For example, little is known about the accuracy of arm proprioception; does it vary with changes in arm configuration, since some peripheral receptors are engaged only when joints move towards extreme angles? Are variations consistent across different tasks? Does proprioceptive ability change depending on what we are localizing (e.g., fingertip position versus elbow angle)? We used a robot exoskeleton to study proprioception in 14 arm configurations across three tasks, asking healthy subjects to 1) match a pointer to elbow angles after passive movements, 2) match a pointer to fingertip positions after passive movements, and 3) actively match their elbow angle to a pointer. Across all three tasks, subjects overestimated more extreme joint positions; this may be due to peripheral sensory signals biasing estimates as a safety mechanism to prevent injury. We also found that elbow angle estimates were more precise when used to judge fingertip position versus directly reported, suggesting that the brain has better access to limb endpoint position than joint angles. Finally, precision of elbow angle estimates improved in active versus passive movements, corroborating work showing that efference copies of motor commands and alpha-gamma motor neuron coactivation contribute to proprioceptive estimates. In sum, we have uncovered fundamental aspects of proprioceptive processing, demonstrating both predictable biases that are dependent on joint configuration and independent of task as well as improved precision when integrating information across joints.







HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
Visit Other APS Journals Online
Copyright © 2009 by the The American Physiological Society.