|
|
||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 Departement d'education physique et de readaptation, Universite catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
2 physiologie, Universite de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Trevor.Drew{at}umontreal.ca.
We have examined the relationship between the movement and the anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) that precede that movement during a reaching task in the cat. We recorded ground reaction forces in all 3 planes from all four limbs as well as electromyographic (EMG) activity from limb and axial muscles. The reaching movement was always preceded by an APA that was characterized by a loading of the reaching forelimb and an unloading of the support forelimb. This loading of the reaching forelimb was preceded, and accompanied, by increased activity in shoulder and limb extensor muscles of the reaching limb; extensor muscle activity in the supporting limb was simultaneously decreased. An important finding from this study was that the onset of the APA and of the movement was temporally decoupled. Analyses of the onset of EMG activity showed that most of the muscles that we recorded could be classified as either related to the APA or related to the movement. These results support the idea of distributed, and perhaps independent, systems for the execution of the APA and of the prime movement. There was also postural activity in the supporting limb during the movement. Analysis of this activity, which is also anticipatory in nature, suggests that it was tightly linked to the movement. We suggest that this postural response is signaled as part of the command for movement. Some muscles, particularly the extensors of the reaching limb, received convergent input from the command signals for the APA and for the movement.
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
B. Schepens, P. Stapley, and T. Drew Neurons in the Pontomedullary Reticular Formation Signal Posture and Movement Both as an Integrated Behavior and Independently J Neurophysiol, October 1, 2008; 100(4): 2235 - 2253. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
D. S. Soteropoulos and S. N. Baker Bilateral representation in the deep cerebellar nuclei J. Physiol., February 15, 2008; 586(4): 1117 - 1136. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. D. MacKinnon, D. Bissig, J. Chiusano, E. Miller, L. Rudnick, C. Jager, Y. Zhang, M.-L. Mille, and M. W. Rogers Preparation of Anticipatory Postural Adjustments Prior to Stepping J Neurophysiol, June 1, 2007; 97(6): 4368 - 4379. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
B. Schepens and T. Drew Descending Signals From the Pontomedullary Reticular Formation Are Bilateral, Asymmetric, and Gated During Reaching Movements in the Cat J Neurophysiol, November 1, 2006; 96(5): 2229 - 2252. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
T. G. Deliagina, G. N. Orlovsky, P. V. Zelenin, and I. N. Beloozerova Neural Bases of Postural Control Physiology, June 1, 2006; 21(3): 216 - 225. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
E. Jankowska and S. A. Edgley How Can Corticospinal Tract Neurons Contribute to Ipsilateral Movements? A Question With Implications for Recovery of Motor Functions Neuroscientist, February 1, 2006; 12(1): 67 - 79. [Abstract] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. Perfiliev Bilateral Processing of Motor Commands in the Motor Cortex of the Cat During Target-Reaching J Neurophysiol, May 1, 2005; 93(5): 2489 - 2506. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
B. Schepens and T. Drew Independent and Convergent Signals From the Pontomedullary Reticular Formation Contribute to the Control of Posture and Movement During Reaching in the Cat J Neurophysiol, October 1, 2004; 92(4): 2217 - 2238. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. G. Davidson and J. A. Buford Motor Outputs From the Primate Reticular Formation to Shoulder Muscles as Revealed by Stimulus-Triggered Averaging J Neurophysiol, July 1, 2004; 92(1): 83 - 95. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH |
| Visit Other APS Journals Online |