The discontinuous nature of motor execution

Abstract.

Human movement control requires adequate coordination of different movements, which is particularly important when different motor tasks are simultaneously executed by the same effector(s) (e.g. a muscle or a joint). The process of movement execution involves a series of highly nonlinear elements; for instance, a motor unit of a muscle produces force only in the direction of muscle shortening, thus representing a threshold operator that transforms the bipolar (i.e. excitatory or inhibitory) information at its spinal input into a purely unipolar signal (i.e. muscle force). This tripartite research report addresses the contribution of the nonlinearity of neuromuscular elements to the coordination of different motor tasks simultaneously executed by the same limb. In this first part of the series, a new hypothesis for such a single-muscle multiple-task coordination is presented which suggests an essentially threshold-linear coordination mechanism. Control signals generated by the central nervous system for each individual movement independently and feedback information from peripheral receptors are linearly superimposed. This compound control/feedback signal is processed by a nonlinear limiter element reflecting the discontinuous properties of the muscle and its reflex circuitry. It is shown that threshold-linear interaction of descending commands and afferent feedback information can lead to complex interdependent patterns of compound motor action. This includes the possibility of gating (i.e. the ability of one movement pattern to constrain or even impede the execution of another pattern) and of delayed response initiation when simultaneously performing more than one voluntary motor task. A theoretical analysis of the threshold-linear coordination mechanism and an extensive experimental validation of the model is provided in part II and part III of the report.