Zatsiorsky

This study used the framework of the referent configuration hypothesis and slow changes in the external conditions during vertical oscillation of a hand-held object to infer the characteristics of hypothetical control variables. The study had two main objectives: (1) to show that hypothetical control variables, namely, referent coordinates and apparent stiffness of vertical hand position and grip force can be measured in an experiment; and (2) to establish relation(s) between these control variables that yield the classic grip-force-load-force coupling...

The authors explored task-specific stability during accurate multifinger force production tasks with different numbers of instructed fingers. Subjects performed steady-state isometric force production tasks and were instructed not to interfere voluntarily with transient lifting-and-lowering perturbations applied to the index finger. The main results were (a) intertrial variance in the space of finger modes at steady states was larger within the subspace that had no effect on the total force (the uncontrolled manifold [UCM]); (b) perturbations caused large deviations of finger modes within the UCM (motor equivalence); and (c) deviations caused by the perturbation showed larger variance within the UCM...

Previous reports show that the forces produced by the fingers of one hand drop exponentially over time in the absence of visual feedback on the forces. We study the force production by the index fingers of both hands with no visual feedback. Subjects produced a specified total force with a specific contribution from each finger by pressing on force sensors. We observed that in the absence of visual feedback: (1) The finger forces dropped with time by an amount proportional to the magnitude of the initial force...

The authors studied effects of practicing a 4-finger accurate force production task on multifinger coordination quantified within the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis. During practice, task instability was modified by changing visual feedback gain based on accuracy of performance. The authors also explored the retention of these effects, and their transfer to a prehensile task. Subjects practiced the force production task for 2 days. After the practice, total force variability decreased and performance became more accurate...

We explored stability of multi-finger cyclical accurate force production action by analysis of responses to small perturbations applied to one of the fingers and inter-cycle analysis of variance. Healthy subjects performed two versions of the cyclical task, with and without an explicit target. The "inverse piano" apparatus was used to lift/lower a finger by 1 cm over 0.5 s; the subjects were always instructed to perform the task as accurate as they could at all times. Deviations in the spaces of finger forces and modes (hypothetical commands to individual fingers) were quantified in directions that did not change total force (motor equivalent) and in directions that changed the total force (non-motor equivalent)...

The latent period of visual sensor-motor reaction depends, in part, on the sensory and integrative processes in the brain, but is also influenced by the rate of the muscle contraction. There is no clear evidence in the literature whether the rotational inertia of segments of limbs has any direct effect on the reaction time. The aim of our study was to identify this relationship. The study involved 566 right handed students aged 16-17 of both genders beginning their post puberty period. Reaction time was measured during experimental adduction of the forearm and hand, using a special rotating handle and lever connected to a computer that recorded the reaction time (+/- 1 ms)...

We investigated stability of action by a multifinger system with three methods: analysis of intertrial variance, application of transient perturbations, and analysis of the system's motion in different state spaces. The "inverse piano" device was used to apply transient (lifting-and-lowering) perturbations to individual fingers during single- and two-finger accurate force production tasks. In each trial, the perturbation was applied either to a finger explicitly involved in the task or one that was not. We hypothesized that, in one-finger tasks, task-specific stability would be observed in the redundant space of finger forces but not in the nonredundant space of finger modes (commands to explicitly involved fingers)...

The purpose of the present study was to compare the location of the body center of mass (CoM) determined by using a high accuracy reaction board (RB) and two different segment parameter models for motion analysis (Dempster, 1955, DEM and de Leva, 1996 adjusted from Zatsiorsky and Seluyanov, ZAT). The body CoM (expressed as percentage of the total body height) was determined from several subjects including athletes as well as physically active students and sedentary people. Some significant differences were found in the location of the body CoM between the used segment models and the reaction board method for all male subjects (n=58, 57...

In this study, we explored relations between indices of postural sway and perceived comfort during pointing postures performed by standing participants. The participants stood on a force plate, grasped a pointer with the dominant (right) hand, and pointed to targets located at four positions and at two distances from the body. We quantified postural sway over 60-s intervals at each pointing posture, and found no effects of target location or distance on postural sway indices. In contrast, comfort ratings correlated significantly with indices of one of the sway components, trembling...

The authors studied effects of healthy aging on 3 components of the internal force vector during static prehensile tasks. Young and older subjects held an instrumented handle using a 5-digit prismatic grasp under different digit configurations and external torques. Across digit configurations, older subjects showed larger internal normal (grip) and tangential (load-resisting) digit force components and larger internal moment of force. In contrast to earlier reports, safety margin values were not higher in the older subjects...

The extrinsic digit muscles naturally couple wrist action and grip force in prehensile tasks. We explored the effects of wrist position on the steady-state grip force and grip-force change during imposed changes in the grip aperture [apparent stiffness (AS)]. Subjects held an instrumented handle steady using a prismatic five-digit grip. The grip aperture was changed slowly, while the subjects were instructed not to react voluntarily to these changes. An increase in the aperture resulted in an increase in grip force, and its contraction resulted in a proportional drop in grip force...

The effects of muscle fatigue on the stability of precision grasps are not well known. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of exercise-induced fatigue of a digit on prehension synergies in a static precision grasp. One group of participants performed the fatiguing exercise using the thumb (group-thumb) and the second group performed the exercise using the index finger (group-index). Grasp force and load-resisting force-stabilizing synergies were weaker during fatigue for group-thumb and showed no significant change for group-index...

During single-finger force production, the non-instructed fingers unintentionally produce force (finger enslaving). In this study, enslaving effects were compared between the dominant and non-dominant hands. The test consisted of a series of maximum voluntary contractions with different finger combinations. Enslaving matrices were calculated by means of training an artificial neural network. The dominant hand was found to be stronger, but there was found to be no difference between the overall enslaving effects in the dominant and non-dominant hands...

BACKGROUND: Mechanical properties of human digits may have significant implications for the hand function. We quantified several mechanical characteristics of individual digits in young and older adults. METHODS: Digit tip friction was measured at several normal force values using a method of induced relative motion between the digit tip and the object surface. A modified quick-release paradigm was used to estimate digit apparent stiffness, damping, and inertial parameters...

This study was motivated by the double action of extrinsic hand muscles that produce grip force and also contribute to wrist torque. We explored interactions between grip force and wrist torque in isometric force production tasks. In particular, we tested a hypothesis that an intentional change in one of the two kinetic variables would produce an unintentional change in the other (enslaving). When young healthy subjects produced accurate changes in the grip force, only minor effects on the force produced by the hand (by wrist flexion/extension action) were observed...

We explored a hypothesis that transient perturbations applied to a redundant system result in equifinality in the space of task-related performance variables but not in the space of elemental variables. The subjects pressed with four fingers and produced an accurate constant total force level. The "inverse piano" device was used to lift and lower one of the fingers smoothly. The subjects were instructed "not to intervene voluntarily" with possible force changes. Analysis was performed in spaces of finger forces and finger modes (hypothetical neural commands to fingers) as elemental variables...

We investigated the effects of fatigue produced by timed maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) of the index finger of the right hand on performance in MVC and accurate cyclic force production tasks in right-handed young (Young group) and strength-matched elderly (Elderly group) participants. We hypothesized that, before fatigue, the Elderly group would show weaker force-stabilizing synergies and smaller adaptive changes in the synergy index during fatigue. Synergies were defined as covaried adjustments of neural commands to fingers (finger modes) across trials that stabilize total force...

The neural control of movement has been described using different sets of elemental variables. Two possible sets of elemental variables have been suggested for finger pressing tasks: the forces of individual fingers and the finger commands (also called finger modes or central commands). The authors analyzed which of the 2 sets of the elemental variables is more likely used in the optimization of the finger force sharing and which set is used for the stabilization of performance. They used two recently developed techniques-the analytical inverse optimization (ANIO) and the uncontrolled manifold (UCM) analysis-to evaluate each set of elemental variables with respect to both aspects of performance...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of changes in the proprioceptive signals induced by muscle vibration on multi-finger interaction and coordination. We hypothesized that unintended force production by non-instructed fingers (enslaving) would increase with muscle vibration while synergy indices during steady-state force production would drop. The framework of the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis was used to quantify indices of multi-finger synergies stabilizing total force during steady-state force production and anticipatory changes in these indices (anticipatory synergy adjustments, ASAs) in preparation to a quick force pulse production with and without hand-muscle vibration at 80 Hz...

Extrinsic digit muscles contribute to both fingertip forces and wrist movements (FDP and FPL-flexion, EDC-extension). Hence, it is expected that finger forces depend on the wrist movement and position. We investigated the relation between grip force and wrist kinematics to examine whether and how the force (1) scales with wrist flexion-extension (FE) angle and (2) can be predicted from accelerations induced during FE movement. In one experiment, subjects naturally held an instrumented handle using a prismatic grasp and performed very slow FE movements...