19.04.10 - Force feedback plays important role in motion control tasks

Muscle force feedback, muscle spindle activity and co-contraction all play a role in the performance of voluntary tasks. Mugge and other (Delft University of Technology) performed a study which aimed to quantify the separate contribution of each. The results have recently been published in Experimental Brain Research.

Using both position tasks (resisted the perturbations) and force tasks (give way to imposed forces) they conclude that force feedback plays an important role in the studied motion control tasks. This implies that spindle-mediated feedback is not the only significant adaptive system that contributes to the maintenance of posture or force.

Mugge W, Abbink DA, Schouten AC, Dewald JPA, van der Helm FCT. A rigorous model of reflex function indicates that position and force feedback are flexibly tuned to position and force tasks. Exp Brain Res 200:325-340. [Bekijk het volledige artikel]