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RAPID COMMUNICATION
Département de Physiologie, Centre de Recherche en Sciences Neurologiques, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3J7, Canada
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ABSTRACT |
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 Abstract
 Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
References
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Scott, Stephen H. Comparison of onset time and magnitude of activity for proximal arm muscles and motor cortical cells before reaching movements. J. Neurophysiol. 77: 1016-1022, 1997. The activity of motor cortical cells and proximal arm muscles during the initiation of planar reaching movements were analyzed to identify whether features of coordinated motor patterns of muscles spanning the elbow and shoulder were evident in the discharge patterns of motor cortical cells. Shoulder and elbow muscles were divided into four groups, flexors and extensors at each joint. Features of the initial agonist activity, onset time and magnitude, at the shoulder and elbow were compared for movements in different spatial directions. As observed for human movements, differences in the onset time and the relative magnitude of electromyographic activity (EMG) of muscles acting about the shoulder and elbow were dependent on the direction of movement. Motor cortical cells were categorized as elbow or shoulder related on the basis of their response to passive movement of the joints. Differences in the onset time and the relative magnitude of activity of cells related to the shoulder and elbow were both dependent on the direction of movement and were similar to those observed for muscles spanning these joints. There was a modest, but significant correlation between the onset time and magnitude of EMG for individual muscles. A similar magnitude-time coupling was observed for individual motor cortical cells. Variations in the discharge pattern of motor cortical cells before movement that mirror those observed for muscles spanning the shoulder and elbow support the potential role of primary motor cortex in the selection, timing, and magnitude of agonist motor patterns at the shoulder and elbow to initiate reaching movements.
Reaching movements provide a useful model for understanding motor coordination because muscle activity acting at the shoulder must be controlled and sequenced with that at the elbow to move the hand in space. Several studies have shown that the activity of proximal arm muscles is broadly tuned to the direction of movement (Flanders et al. 1994 The data base of cell and muscle activity patterns analyzed in this study derives from a previous study in which monkeys made reaching movements using similar hand trajectories, but different arm orientations (Scott and Kalaska 1997
Muscle activity patterns
As demonstrated in previous studies on humans and monkeys (Flanders et al. 1994
Cell activity patterns
The activity of 31 motor cortical cells related to the elbow and 125 related to the shoulder was analyzed in the present study. The activity of motor cortical cells before movement onset was similar to those observed for muscles acting about the shoulder and elbow joints. As observed previously, cells were broadly tuned to the direction of movement (Fig. 3). The magnitude of cell activity varied with movement direction, and this was often paralleled by variations in their onset time of discharge (Fig. 3B). As with proximal arm muscles, there was a modest, but significant correlation between the onset time of individual cells before movement and their magnitude of discharge (r = 0.40, P < 0.01, n = 109, cells active in Previous studies on the activity of motor cortical cells during reaching have focused largely on the relationship between cell discharge and variables related to the global goal of the task, such as the direction of hand movement (Caminiti et al. 1990
INTRODUCTION
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
References
; Turner et al. 1995; Wadman et al. 1980). Further, the onset time and magnitude of electromyographic activity (EMG) of muscles spanning the shoulder are coordinated with those of muscles spanning the elbow and are influenced not only by the initial start and final target positions, but also by limb geometry (Karst and Hasan 1991).
), and that the ensemble activity of cells could roughly predict the temporal pattern of EMG (Fetz et al. 1989; Humphrey 1972). Further, a study of motor cortical activity during reaching movements to grasp an object in space showed that cells related to the proximal arm were active earlier than cells related to the distal arm (Murphy et al. 1985). These shifts in cell onset time mirrored the associated shift in EMG onset between proximal and distal muscles related to the reach and grasp phases of movement, respectively, suggesting that motor cortex was involved in the selection and timing of muscle activity to generate volitional movements.
; Georgopoulos et al. 1982; Schwartz 1992; Schwartz et al. 1988). While some studies continued to show the importance of variables related to muscle activity level or arm geometry (Caminiti et al. 1990; Kalaska et al. 1989; Scott and Kalaska 1995, 1997), it has become less clear how or whether motor cortex is specifically involved in coordinating the activity of the elbow and shoulder musculature during reaching. At the same time, studies on spinalized frogs have demonstrated that microstimulation in the spinal cord could coactivate groups of muscles resulting in a force at the end of the limb whose direction and magnitude varied with limb posture (Bizzi et al. 1991; Giszter et al. 1993). As in studies of motor cortical activity during reaching, these studies focused on the relation between spinal function and variables related to the entire limb as a whole rather than related to a portion of the peripheral motor apparatus. From these perspectives, descending commands provide global information related to movement direction, while circuitry in the spinal cord converts this information into the appropriate output commands to muscles (Bizzi et al. 1991; Georgopoulos 1996).
). Those results indicated that the discharge of single motor cortical cells did not covary exclusively with global parameters of movement related to the motion of the hand in space. One of the arm orientations used in that study maintained the hand and the elbow at nearly shoulder level during reaching. These horizontal movements involved predominantly flexion and extension movements at the shoulder and elbow joints, and thus, are comparable with previous planar reaching studies on the coordination of muscle activity in humans (Karst and Hasan 1991). The purpose of the present study was to examine whether the discharge of motor cortical cells during reaching could provide information required to coordinate motor output at different joints (Turner et al. 1995). The present study identifies differences in the onset time and relative magnitude of EMG activity of muscles spanning the shoulder and elbow of monkeys, as observed previously for human planar movements (Karst and Hasan 1991). More importantly, this study demonstrates similar changes in the onset time and magnitude of discharge of motor cortical cells related to the shoulder and elbow joints and thus supports the potential role of primary motor cortex in developing the temporal and spatial patterns of agonist activity to initiate reaching movements.
METHODS
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
References
). Two juvenile monkeys were trained to move a pendulum-like handle located at shoulder level between light-emitting diode (LED) targets. In one condition, the monkey positioned a pointer at the bottom of the manipulandum at a central LED for 1-3 s and then moved the manipulandum to one of eight peripheral targets located on the circumference of an 8-cm radius circle (center-out). In another condition, the monkey held the pointer at one of the eight peripheral targets for 1-3 s and then moved to the central target (out-center) (data not presented in Scott and Kalaska 1997). Movement onset was defined by a recursive algorithm based on the manipulandum X-Y position data (Kalaska et al. 1989). The eight different movements in each condition were presented in a randomized-block design. The present study focuses on the movements performed when the monkey's arm was abducted nearly 90° (see Scott and Kalaska 1997). These nearly planar arm movements were generated predominantly by flexion and extension movements at the shoulder and elbow joints.
). A scale from 1 to 5 was used to grade the relative response of a cell to passive movement of the elbow and shoulder where 1 signified only elbow input and 5 only shoulder input (see Scott and Kalaska 1997). The present study focused on the activity patterns of cells during the reaction time (RT), between the onset of the target light and the onset of movement. The preferred direction of a cell was defined by vectorial summation of its discharge pattern during RT across all movement directions (Batschelet 1981; Kalaska et al. 1989). Cells identified as directionally tuned by the use of a bootstrap technique (Crammond and Kalaska 1996; Scott and Kalaska 1997) were analyzed further. Data collected when the monkey performed the task with the left arm were mirror-image transposed.
for the analysis of EMG patterns of flexors and extensors at the shoulder and elbow. The onset time of cell activity was identified with the use of a sequential cumulative sum (CUSUM) technique, as described in Schwartz et al. (1988). Cell onset times were defined relative to the onset time of movement. The magnitude of the cell discharge was defined by its mean level of discharge from its onset time to the initiation of movement, minus its baseline activity before the illumination of the target light. The present study focused only on the onset time and magnitude when cell discharge increased before movement.
, both the differences in the mean onset time and the ratio of the magnitude of shoulder and elbow cell activity were compared with the direction of movement relative to initial forearm orientation, 
. Zero degrees defined movements aligned with the long axis of the forearm and in front of (distal to) the hand. Positive and negative movement directions were counterclockwise and clockwise, respectively, from this neutral direction of movement (see Fig. 3C).
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FIG. 3.
Activity of a motor cortical cell for movements in different directions. A: each raster illustrates the discharge of a cell responsive to passive elbow movements (score = 1) for 5 repeat trials to each target. M denotes the start of movement, whereas the thicker bars before and after the M denote the target light onset and the end of movement, respectively. B: onset time (triangles) and absolute magnitude (squares) of cell discharge both varied with the direction of movement, as defined in C. Results are displayed only for movements in which cell discharge increased during the reaction time. C: diagram of the approximate position of the 8 target lights and the starting position of the monkey's hand. The direction of movement was defined relative to the initial forearm orientation, .
). EMG signals were band-pass filtered (100-3,000 Hz), integrated and sampled at 10-ms intervals. For a given arm, the onset time and magnitude of EMG for flexors and extensors at each joint were based on the following groups: elbow flexors included brachialis and brachioradialis, elbow extensors included lateral and medial triceps, shoulder flexors included anterior deltoids and pectoralis major, and shoulder extensors included middle and posterior deltoids, supraspinatus, and infraspinatus. Muscle activity patterns during RT were analyzed by the use of techniques similar to those used to analyze cell activity, described above. The amplitude of the EMG for a given muscle was normalized to its maximal value recorded during movement.
based on the center-out task.
RESULTS
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
References
; Scott and Kalaska 1997; Turner et al. 1995; Wadman et al. 1980), the EMG of shoulder and elbow muscles were broadly tuned to the direction of movement. The magnitude of EMG was maximal for movements in one direction and diminished for movements away from this preferred direction. The onset time of EMG before movement tended to parallel the variations in magnitude for movements in different directions, such that there was modest, but significant correlation between the magnitude and onset time of EMG (r = 0.33, P < 0.05, n = 37, muscles active for 
4 movements).
). The distribution for elbow muscles was bimodal with a major axes oriented at 70-250° (Fig. 1; angles related to this diagram only are defined by trigonometric convention with 0° pointing to the right and angle increasing counterclockwise). Elbow flexors were maximally active for movements toward and to the left of the monkey, whereas elbow extensors were maximally active for movements in the opposite direction. The distribution for shoulder muscles was also not uniform (P < 0.001) but was bimodal with a major axis oriented at 7-187°. This bimodal distribution reflects the fact that shoulder flexors and extensors were maximally active for movements to the left and right, respectively, when the arm was in the abducted orientation.
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FIG. 1.
Distribution of preferred directions of elbow and shoulder muscles and cells receiving passive input predominantly from either the elbow or shoulder. The size of each piece is proportional to the number of muscles or cells with preferred directions in that direction. Thick lines in each pie plot denote the major axis for each distribution. Angles for this diagram only are defined by trigonometric convention with 0° pointing to the right and angle increasing counterclockwise.
). Each individual symbol represents the relative magnitude of agonist EMG at the shoulder and elbow for a single movement, and symbols of a similar type (square, circle, etc.) represent a specific combination of agonists at the shoulder and elbow. For each agonist pair, there was a linear relationship between the ratio of the magnitude of shoulder and elbow EMG and . For example, the relative magnitude of agonist activity for the shoulder extensors and elbow extensors (squares in Fig. 2) was strongly influenced by the direction of movement. At 
150°, the magnitude of EMG of the shoulder extensors was greater than that of the elbow extensors. At 50°, the reverse was true; the magnitude of EMG of the shoulder extensors was less than that of the elbow extensors. For each agonist pair, the correlation between movement direction and the relative magnitudeof EMG at the shoulder and elbow were all significant (Table 1).
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FIG. 2.
Comparison of the agonist magnitude and onset time of muscles and cells with movement direction. Each icon denotes a different combination of agonist activity at the shoulder and elbow (agonist pair): squares denote shoulder and elbow extensors, crosses denote shoulder flexors and elbow extensors, circles denote shoulder and elbow flexors, and pluses denote shoulder extensors and elbow flexors. Thick lines denote the regression slope for each agonist pair. Values are plotted against , the direction of movement relative to initial forearm orientation (see Fig. 3C). Relationship between the relative magnitude of activity at the shoulder and elbow for muscle electromyogram (EMG; A) and cell discharge (C) compared with . Relationship between differences in the onset time of activity between shoulder and elbow muscle EMG (B) and cell discharge (D) with . See text for definition of cell types.
View this table:
TABLE 1.
Correlations between agonist activity and direction
of movement,
was always significant (Table 1). Variations in the onset time of agonist activity at the shoulder and elbow mirrored variations in their relative magnitude. For each agonist pair, the sign of the correlation between movement direction and the shift in onset time was similar to that observed between movement direction and the ratio of the magnitude of shoulder and elbow EMG.
4 directions of movement). In other words, the modulation of onset time for a cell with movement direction tended to covary with its magnitude of discharge.
), and there was no difference in their major axes (P > 0.05; V test) (Batschelet 1981). The distribution of preferred directions of shoulder cells was also not uniform (P < 0.05) but appeared bimodal with a major axis oriented at 161-341°. Although shoulder muscles and cells were both bimodally distributed with major axes oriented largely to the left and right, the two distributions were not identical (P < 0.01; Kuiper's test) partially due to the broader distribution for shoulder cells. Although the major axis for the shoulder cells was predominantly to the left and right as observed for the shoulder muscles, the exact orientation for shoulder cells was rotated clockwise ~25° relative to the axis for the shoulder muscles. The major axis of the distribution for elbow-related cells was roughly orthogonal to the axis for shoulder-related cells. It is interesting to note that cells that responded equally to passive movement of the shoulder and elbow (Score = 3) were uniformly distributed (P > 0.10; Rayleigh test; n = 59) and showed no bias in their distribution toward that observed for either the shoulder or the elbow musculature.
mirrored the observed changes in the relative magnitude of EMG of shoulder and elbow muscles. For each agonist pair, there was a systematic relationship between the relative magnitude of cell discharge and (Fig. 2C) with statistically significant correlations for three of the four agonist pairs (Table 1). In each case, the sign of the correlation was the same as observed for the corresponding muscle agonist pair. For example, the averaged discharge of shoulder extensor cells was greater than that observed for elbow extensors for movements at 150°. The reverse was true for movements at 50°; the average discharge of shoulder extensor cells was less than observed for elbow extensor cells (squares in Fig. 2). A similar coupling with movement direction was observed for the ratio of the magnitude of EMG of the shoulder extensors and elbow extensors.
0.95 (P < 0.01). Similarly, within hemispheric comparisons for the other movement variables with also tended to generate higher average correlations than observed for data across all hemispheres (data not shown).
DISCUSSION
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
References
; Fu et al. 1993; Georgopoulos et al. 1982; Kalaska et al. 1989; Schwartz 1992; Scott and Kalaska 1995, 1997). The purpose of the present study was to illustrate an alternative framework to interpret motor cortical activity during reaching based on coordinated motor patterns at the shoulder and elbow. The results show that the onset time and relative magnitude of EMG of muscles spanning the elbow and shoulder can be described by the use of simple rules based on the direction of movement relative to forearm orientation, as seen in human movements (Karst and Hasan 1991). Correspondingly, motor cortical cells related to the shoulder and elbow show similar changes in their onset time and magnitude before movement, suggesting that descending commands from motor cortex can provide the sorts of information required to select motor patterns at the shoulder and elbow to initiate reaching movements. The comparisons between motor cortical cells and proximal arm muscles was limited to the reaction time phase of the task when movement-related afferent feedback from the periphery to the spinal cord is minimal.
; Fetz et al. 1989; Humphrey 1972) to situations involving multijoint movements where the temporal and spatial activity patterns of muscles and cells related to a joint must be carefully coordinated with those acting at another. For a reach and grasp task, Murphy et al. (1985) demonstrated that the onset time of cell activity in motor cortex related to the proximal arm was earlier than the onset time of cell activity related to the distal arm and thus reflected differences in the onset time of EMG for proximal and distal arm muscles associated with the reach and grasp phases of the task. They found no differences in the onset time of cells related to the shoulder and elbow, but only studied movements in a single direction. Variations in onset time of cells related to the shoulder and elbow were evident in the present study because movements were analyzed in many different directions. The present results also agree with studies on gait modifications in cats where the discharge of individual pyramidal tract neurons in motor cortex covary with changes in the discharge pattern of different groups of flexor muscles (Drew 1993; Widajewicz et al. 1994).
; Georgopoulos 1996). The present results do not support the notion that motor cortical cells only regard the limb as a functional whole. Rather, the present results suggest that basic attributes of the discharge of motor cortex cells (onset times and intensity) covary with movement direction as is observed for the EMG of proximal arm muscles, indicating that motor cortical descending commands are capable of providing specific details of the motor output at different joints during multijoint movements.
; Georgopoulos et al. 1982; Schwartz et al. 1988). These earlier studies focused largely on shoulder-related cells when monkeys made reaching movements using a natural arm orientation in which the elbow remained below the level of the shoulder. Under these conditions, the distribution of preferred directions for shoulder-related cells tends to be uniform (Scott and Kalaska 1997). In contrast, the distribution of preferred directions for shoulder-related cells is bimodal when the arm is abducted and reaching movements are performed with the arm moving largely in the horizontal plane. This change in the distribution of preferred directions appears to reflect important differences in the kinematic and kinetic features of shoulder movement when reaching movements are performed using different arm orientations (see Scott and Kalaska 1997).
). Such magnitude-time coupling has also been observed in the discharge of cells in superior colliculus (Munoz and Wurtz 1995; Sparks and Mays 1980) related to oculomotor control and may reflect a basic feature of neuronal processing related to sensorimotor signals and transformations. Such coupling is present in the activity of proximal arm muscles (Karst and Hasan 1991; Wadman et al. 1980) and may actually help, in some cases, to linearize hand movements in space (Wadman et al. 1980). Therefore this relatively simple relation between the onset time and magnitude of motor cortical cell discharge may represent a basic feature of neuronal processing that aids in transforming signals related to the spatial location of a target into appropriate temporal and spatial patterns of motor output to initiate reaching movements.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
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The author thanks Drs. T. Drew, J. Kalaska, L. Sergio, and A. Smith for helpful comments on this manuscript. The author also thanks J. Kalaska for the use of neuronal and EMG data collected in his laboratory.
The author was supported by a Medical Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship and is supported by a Chercheur Boursier of the Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Québec (FRSQ). This work was supported by MRC of Canada Research Grant MT-13462 (S. Scott) and by MRC Group Grant in Neurological Sciences (J. Kalaska).
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FOOTNOTES |
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Address for reprint requests: Dept. de Physiologie, Centre de Recherche en Sciences Neurologiques, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128, Succursale Centre-ville, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3J7, Canada.
Received 4 September 1996; accepted in final form 22 October 1996.
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REFERENCES |
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Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
References
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