Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 3 of 3
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Effects Of Material Properties And Object Orientation On Precision Grip Kinematics., Vivian C Paulun, Karl R Gegenfurtner, Melvyn A Goodale, Roland W Fleming
Effects Of Material Properties And Object Orientation On Precision Grip Kinematics., Vivian C Paulun, Karl R Gegenfurtner, Melvyn A Goodale, Roland W Fleming
Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications
Successfully picking up and handling objects requires taking into account their physical properties (e.g., material) and position relative to the body. Such features are often inferred by sight, but it remains unclear to what extent observers vary their actions depending on the perceived properties. To investigate this, we asked participants to grasp, lift and carry cylinders to a goal location with a precision grip. The cylinders were made of four different materials (Styrofoam, wood, brass and an additional brass cylinder covered with Vaseline) and were presented at six different orientations with respect to the participant (0°, 30°, 60°, 90°, 120°, …
Functional Plasticity In Somatosensory Cortex Supports Motor Learning By Observing., Heather R Mcgregor, Joshua G A Cashaback, Paul L Gribble
Functional Plasticity In Somatosensory Cortex Supports Motor Learning By Observing., Heather R Mcgregor, Joshua G A Cashaback, Paul L Gribble
Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications
An influential idea in neuroscience is that the sensory-motor system is activated when observing the actions of others [1, 2]. This idea has recently been extended to motor learning, in which observation results in sensory-motor plasticity and behavioral changes in both motor and somatosensory domains [3-9]. However, it is unclear how the brain maps visual information onto motor circuits for learning. Here we test the idea that the somatosensory system, and specifically primary somatosensory cortex (S1), plays a role in motor learning by observing. In experiment 1, we applied stimulation to the median nerve to occupy the somatosensory system with …
Optimizing The Distribution Of Leg Muscles For Vertical Jumping., Jeremy D Wong, Maarten F Bobbert, Arthur J Van Soest, Paul L Gribble, Dinant A Kistemaker
Optimizing The Distribution Of Leg Muscles For Vertical Jumping., Jeremy D Wong, Maarten F Bobbert, Arthur J Van Soest, Paul L Gribble, Dinant A Kistemaker
Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications
A goal of biomechanics and motor control is to understand the design of the human musculoskeletal system. Here we investigated human functional morphology by making predictions about the muscle volume distribution that is optimal for a specific motor task. We examined a well-studied and relatively simple human movement, vertical jumping. We investigated how high a human could jump if muscle volume were optimized for jumping, and determined how the optimal parameters improve performance. We used a four-link inverted pendulum model of human vertical jumping actuated by Hill-type muscles, that well-approximates skilled human performance. We optimized muscle volume by allowing the …