Search results for "HORIZON"
showing 10 items of 600 documents
Direction-dependent activation of the insular cortex during vertical and horizontal hand movements
2016
International audience; The planning of any motor action requires a complex multisensory processing by the brain. Gravity - immutable on Earth - has been shown to be a key input to these mechanisms. Seminal fMRI studies performed during visual perception of falling objects and self-motion demonstrated that humans represent the action of gravity in parts of the cortical vestibular system; in particular, the insular cortex and the cerebellum. However, little is known as to whether a specific neural network is engaged when processing non-visual signals relevant to gravity. We asked participants to perform vertical and horizontal hand movements without visual control, while lying in a 3T-MRI sc…
Trunk muscle activation patterns and spine kinematics when using an oscillating blade: influence of different postures and blade orientations.
2009
Abstract Sanchez-Zuriaga D, Vera-Garcia FJ, Moreside JM, McGill SM. Trunk muscle activation patterns and spine kinematics when using an oscillating blade: influence of different postures and blade orientations. Objective To compare trunk muscle activation patterns and trunk kinematics when using an oscillating blade in standing and unsupported sitting postures, and with different orientations of the blade. Design A cross-sectional survey of trunk muscle activities and lumbar motion. Setting Biomechanics research laboratory. Participants Healthy men (N=13). Interventions An oscillating blade was held with 2 hands and oscillated with vertical and horizontal orientations of blade. These exerci…
Bipedal distribution of human vestibular‐evoked postural responses during asymmetrical standing
2002
Galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) evokes responses in muscles of both legs when bilateral stimuli are applied during normal stance. We have used this technique to assess whether asymmetrical standing alters the distribution of responses in the two legs. Subjects stood either asymmetrically with 75% of their body weight on one leg or symmetrically with each leg taking 50% of their body weight. The net response in each leg was taken from changes in ground reaction force measured from separate force plates under each foot. The net force profile consisted of a small initial force change that peaked at approximately 200 ms followed by an oppositely directed larger component that peaked at ap…
Differentiating the differential rotation effect.
2011
As an observer views a picture from different viewing angles, objects in the picture appear to maintain their orientation relative to the observer. For instance, the eyes of a portrait appear to follow the observer as he or she views the image from different angles. We have explored this rotation effect, often called the Mona Lisa effect. We report three experiments that used portrait photographs to test variations of the Mona Lisa effect. The first experiment introduced picture displacements relative to the observer in directions beyond the horizontal plane. The Mona Lisa effect remained robust for vertical and/or diagonal observer displacements. The experiment also included conditions in …
Visual gravity influences arm movement planning.
2012
International audience; When submitted to a visuomotor rotation, subjects show rapid adaptation of visually guided arm reaching movements, indicated by a progressive reduction in reaching errors. In this study, we wanted to make a step forward by investigating to what extent this adaptation also implies changes into the motor plan. Up to now, classical visuomotor rotation paradigms have been performed on the horizontal plane, where the reaching motor plan in general requires the same kinematics (i.e., straight path and symmetric velocity profile). To overcome this limitation, we considered vertical and horizontal movement directions requiring specific velocity profiles. This way, a change i…
Investigating centre of mass stabilisation as the goal of posture and movement coordination during human whole body reaching
2000
In the light of experimental results showing significant forward centre of mass (CoM) displacements within the base of support, this study investigated if whole body reaching movements can be executed whilst keeping the CoM fixed in the horizontal axis. Using kinematic simulation techniques, angular configurations were recreated from experimental data imposing two constraints: a constant horizontal position of the CoM and an identical trajectory of the hand to grasp an object. The comparison between recorded and simulated trials showed that stabilisation of the CoM was associated with greater backward hip displacements, which became more marked with increasing object distance. This was in c…
Motor planning of arm movements is direction-dependent in the gravity field.
2007
International audience; In the present study we analyzed kinematic and dynamic features of arm movements in order to better elucidate how the motor system integrates environmental constraints (gravity) into motor planning and control processes. To reach this aim, we experimentally manipulated the mechanical effects of gravity on the arm while maintaining arm inertia constant (i.e. the distribution of the mass around the shoulder joint). Six subjects performed single-joint arm movements (rotation around the shoulder joint) in both sagittal (upward, U, versus downward, D) and horizontal (left, L, versus right, R) planes, at different amplitudes and from different initial positions. Under thes…
Standing up from a chair as a dynamic equilibrium task: a comparison between young and elderly subjects.
2000
The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare the features of center of mass (CoM) control along anterior/posterior axis in young and elderly subjects during sit-to-stand (STS). From a sitting position, seven healthy young subjects and seven healthy elderly subjects were asked to stand up from a chair under different experimental conditions (visual conditions: normal and blindfolded; speed: normal and as fast as possible). Analysis of results was based upon the concept of a “dynamic equilibrium area” (DEA), which in turn identified the dynamic limits of balance. The results showed that both the maximal CoM velocity in the horizontal axis and the CoM velocity at the instant of seat-of…
Inertial properties of the arm are accurately predicted during motor imagery
2004
Abstract In the present study, using the mental chronometry paradigm, we examined the hypothesis that during motor imagery the brain uses a forward internal model of arm inertial properties to predict the motion of the arm in different dynamic states. Seven subjects performed overt and covert arm movements with one (motion around the shoulder joint) and two (motion around both the shoulder and elbow joints) degrees of freedom in the horizontal plane. Arm movements were executed under two loading conditions: without and with an added mass (4 kg) attached to the subject’s right wrist. Additionally, movements were performed in two different directions, condition which implies changes in the ar…
Robust consensus in social networks and coalitional games
2014
We study an n-player averaging process with dynamics subject to controls and adversarial disturbances. The model arises in two distinct application domains: i) coalitional games with transferable utilities (TU) and ii) opinion propagation. We study conditions under which the average allocations achieve robust consensus to some predefined target set.