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A Technique to Determine Friction at the Fingertips

Adriana V. Savescu, Mark L. Latash, and Vladimir M. Zatsiorsky

This article proposes a technique to calculate the coefficient of friction for the fingertip– object interface. Twelve subjects (6 males and 6 females) participated in two experiments. During the first experiment (the imposed displacement method), a 3-D force sensor was moved horizontally while the subjects applied a specified normal force (4 N, 8 N, 12 N) on the surface of a sensor covered with different materials (sandpaper, cotton, rayon, polyester, and silk).The normal force and the tangential force (i.e., the force due to the sensor motion) were recorded. The coefficient of frictiond) was calculated as the ratio between the tangential force and the normal force. In the second experiment (the beginning slip method), a small instrumented object was gripped between the index finger and the thumb, held stationary in the air, and then allowed to drop. The weight (200 g, 500 g, and 1,000 g) and the surface (sandpaper, cotton, rayon, polyester, and silk) in contact with the digits varied across trials. The same sensor as in the first experiment was used to record the normal force (in a horizontal direction) and the tangential force (in the vertical direction). The slip force (i.e., the minimal normal force or grip force necessary to prevent slipping) was estimated as the force at the moment when the object just began to slip. The coefficient of friction was calculated as the ratio between the tangential force and the slip force. The results show that (1) the imposed displacement method is reliable; (2) except sandpaper, for all other materials the coefficient of friction did not depend on the normal force; (3) the skin–sandpaper coefficient of friction was the highest µd = 0.96 ± 0.09 (for 4-N normal force) and the skin–rayon rayon coefficient of friction was the smallest µd = 0.36 ± 0.10; (4) no significant difference between the coefficients of friction determined with the imposed displacement method and the beginning slip method was observed. We view the imposed displacement technique as having an advantage as compared with the beginning slip method, which is more cumbersome (e.g., dropped object should be protected from impacts) and prone to subjective errors owing to the uncertainty in determining the instance of the slip initiation (i.e., impeding sliding).

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Coordination of Contact Forces During Multifinger Static Prehension

Joel R. Martin, Mark L. Latash, and Vladimir M. Zatsiorsky

This study investigated the effects of modifying contact finger forces in one direction—normal or tangential—on the entire set of the contact forces, while statically holding an object. Subjects grasped a handle instrumented with finger force-moment sensors, maintained it at rest in the air, and then slowly: (1) increased the grasping force, (2) tried to spread fingers apart, and (3) tried to squeeze fingers together. Analysis was mostly performed at the virtual finger (VF) level (the VF is an imaginable finger that generates the same force and moment as the four fingers combined). For all three tasks there were statistically significant changes in the VF normal and tangential forces. For finger spreading/squeezing the tangential force neutral point was located between the index and middle fingers. We conclude that the internal forces are regulated as a whole, including adjustments in both normal and tangential force, instead of only a subset of forces (normal or tangential). The effects of such factors as EFFORT and TORQUE were additive; their interaction was not statistically significant, thus supporting the principle of superposition in human prehension.

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Motor Control and Sensory Motor Integration (Advances in Psychology Series, Volume III)

Mark L. Latash

Edited by D.J. Glencross and J.P. Piek

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Intramuscle Synergies: Their Place in the Neural Control Hierarchy

Mark L. Latash, Shirin Madarshahian, and Joseph M. Ricotta

We accept a definition of synergy introduced by Nikolai Bernstein and develop it for various actions, from those involving the whole body to those involving a single muscle. Furthermore, we use two major theoretical developments in the field of motor control—the idea of hierarchical control with spatial referent coordinates and the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis—to discuss recent studies of synergies within spaces of individual motor units (MUs) recorded within a single muscle. During the accurate finger force production tasks, MUs within hand extrinsic muscles form robust groups, with parallel scaling of the firing frequencies. The loading factors at individual MUs within each of the two main groups link them to the reciprocal and coactivation commands. Furthermore, groups are recruited in a task-specific way with gains that covary to stabilize muscle force. Such force-stabilizing synergies are seen in MUs recorded in the agonist and antagonist muscles but not in the spaces of MUs combined over the two muscles. These observations reflect inherent trade-offs between synergies at different levels of a control hierarchy. MU-based synergies do not show effects of hand dominance, whereas such effects are seen in multifinger synergies. Involuntary, reflex-based, force changes are stabilized by intramuscle synergies but not by multifinger synergies. These observations suggest that multifinger (multimuscle synergies) are based primarily on supraspinal circuitry, whereas intramuscle synergies reflect spinal circuitry. Studies of intra- and multimuscle synergies promise a powerful tool for exploring changes in spinal and supraspinal circuitry across patient populations.

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Toward a New Theory of Motor Synergies

Mark L. Latash, John P. Scholz, and Gregor Schöner

Driven by recent empirical studies, we offer a new understanding of the degrees of freedom problem, and propose a refined concept of synergy as a neural organization that ensures a one-to-many mapping of variables providing for both stability of important performance variables and flexibility of motor patterns to deal with possible perturbations and/or secondary tasks. Empirical evidence is reviewed, including a discussion of the operationalization of stability/flexibility through the method of the uncontrolled manifold. We show how this concept establishes links between the various accounts for how movement is organized in redundant effector systems.

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Motor Equivalence (ME) During Reaching: Is ME Observable at the Muscle Level?

Daniela Mattos, Joshua Kuhl, John P. Scholz, and Mark L. Latash

The concept of motor equivalent combinations of arm muscles, or M-modes, was investigated during reaching to insert a pointer into a cylindrical target with and without an elbow perturbation. Five M-modes across 15 arm/scapula muscles were identified by principal component analysis with factor extraction. The relationship between small changes in the M-modes and changes in the position/orientation of the pointer were investigated by linear regression analyses. The results revealed a motor equivalent organization of the M-modes for perturbed compared with nonperturbed reaches, both with respect to hand position and orientation, especially in the first 100-ms postperturbation. Similar findings were obtained for motor equivalence computed based on changes in the joint configuration, although the kinematically defined motor equivalence was stronger for pointer orientation. The results support the hypothesis that the nervous system organizes muscles into M-modes and flexibly scales M-mode activation to preserve stable values of variables directly related to performance success.

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Prehension Synergies During Fatigue of a Single Digit: Adaptations in Control With Referent Configurations

Tarkeshwar Singh, Vladimir M. Zatsiorsky, and Mark L. Latash

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. These results indicate that fatiguing the thumb compromises the stability of the precision grasp more than when the index finger is fatigued. Our results support the idea of hierarchical organization of prehension control. We proffer an explanation of our results based on two control constructs: a) Principle of superposition. This principle states that prehension can be viewed as a superposition of two independent processes controlling the slip and the tilt of the object respectively; and b) The referent configuration hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, the neural control of actions is associated with defining a set of referent values for task-related coordinates (given an external force field) defined as the referent configuration.

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Equifinality and Its Violations in a Redundant System: Control With Referent Configurations in a Multi-Joint Positional Task

Tao Zhou, Stanislaw Solnik, Yen-Hsun Wu, and Mark L. Latash

We tested a prediction that equifinality at the task level may be accompanied by violations of equifinality within the redundant set of elemental variables. Seated subjects grasped a handle, and occupied an initial arm configuration against a bias force produced by a robot. The robot applied a smooth, transient change in the force (perturbation). The subjects were instructed “not to intervene voluntarily” with hand deviations. After the robot force returned to the bias value, the hand returned close to the original position and orientation. Analysis of across-trials variance in the joint configuration space confirmed that most variance of the difference between the initial and final states was compatible with unchanged values of both hand position and orientation. These results provide direct support for the theoretical scheme that combines the ideas of synergies and control with referent configurations.

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Changes in Postural Sway and Its Fractions in Conditions of Postural Instability

Luis Mochizuki, Marcos Duarte, Alberto Carlos Amadio, Vladimir M. Zatsiorsky, and Mark L. Latash

We investigated changes in postural sway and its fractions associated with manipulations of the dimensions of the support area. Nine healthy adults stood as quietly as possible, with their eyes open, on a force plate as well as on 5 boards with reduced support area. The center of pressure (COP) trajectory was computed and decomposed into rambling (Rm) and trembling (Tr) trajectories. Sway components were quantified using RMS (root mean square) value, average velocity, and sway area. During standing on the force plate, the RMS was larger for the anterior-posterior (AP) sway components than for the mediolateral (ML) components. During standing on boards with reduced support area, sway increased in both directions. The increase was more pronounced when standing on boards with a smaller support area. Changes in the larger dimension of the support area also affected sway, but not as much as changes in the smaller dimension. ML instability had larger effects on indices of sway compared to AP instability. The average velocity of Rm was larger while the average velocity of Tr was smaller in the AP direction vs. the ML direction. The findings can be interpreted within the hypothesis of an active search function of postural sway. During standing on boards with reduced support area, increased sway may by itself lead to loss of balance. The findings also corroborate the hypothesis of Duarte and Zatsiorsky that Rm and Tr reveal different postural control mechanisms.

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Analysis of a Network for Finger Interaction during Two-Hand Multi-Finger Force Production Tasks

Simon R. Goodman, Mark L. Latash, Sheng Li, and Vladimir M. Zatsiorsky

This study involved an optimization, numerical analysis of a network for two-hand multi-finger force production, analogous in its structure to the double-representation mirror image (DoReMi) network suggested earlier based on neurophysiological data on cortical finger representations. The network accounts for phenomena of enslaving (unintended finger force production), force deficit (smaller force produced by a finger in multi-finger tasks as compared to its single-finger task), and bilateral deficit (smaller forces produced in two-hand tasks as compared to one-hand tasks). Matrices of connection weights were computed, and the results of optimization were compared to the experimental data on finger forces during one- and two-hand maximal force production (MVC) tasks. The network was able to reproduce the experimental data in two-hand experiments with high accuracy (average error was 1.2 N); it was also able to reproduce findings in one-hand multi-finger MVC tasks, which were not used during the optimization procedure, although with a somewhat higher error (2.8 N). Our analysis supports the feasibility of the DoReMi network. It suggests that within-a-hand force deficit and bilateral force deficit are phenomena of different origins whose effects add up. Is also supports a hypothesis that force deficit and enslaving have different neural origins.