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The Influence Of Intersegmental Dynamics On Limb Position Sense, Peyman R. Heidari

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

During multijoint limb movement, the motion of limb segments can be driven actively, by muscle torque, and/or passively, by interaction torque–rotational force that arises passively at one joint due to motion of an adjacent limb segment about another joint. Proprioception plays a critical role in compensating for interaction torques, and deafferented patients have marked deficits in this aspect of motor control. This observation is seemingly at odds with the widely-held belief that proprioceptive sense is poor during motion that is not driven by active muscle contraction, and suggests that proprioceptive acuity might be preserved during motion that is driven by …

Development Of A Wearable Haptic Feedback Device For Upper Limb Prosthetics Through Sensory Substitution, Marco B.S. Gallone

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Haptics can enable a direct communication pipeline between the artificial limb and the brain; adding haptic sensory feedback for prosthesis wearers is believed to improve operation without drawing too much of the user's attention. Through neuroplasticity, the brain can become more cognizant of the information delivered through the skin and may eventually interpret it as inherently as other natural senses. In this thesis, a wearable haptic feedback device (WHFD) is developed to communicate prosthesis sensory information. A 14-week, 6-stage, between subjects study was created to investigate the learning trajectory as participants were stimulated with haptic patterns conveying joint proprioception. 37 …

A Role For The Somatosensory System In Motor Learning By Observing, Heather R. Mcgregor

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

An influential idea in neuroscience is that action observation activates an observer’s sensory-motor system. This idea has recently been extended to motor learning; observing another individual undergoing motor learning can promote sensory-motor plasticity as well as behavioural changes in both the motor and somatosensory domains. While previous research has suggested a role for the motor system in motor learning by observing, this thesis presents a series of experiments testing the hypothesis that the somatosensory system is also involved in motor learning by observing.

The experiments included in this thesis used force field (FF) adaptation as a model of motor learning, …