Muscle Coordination Is Habitual Rather than Optimal

• Published in: The Journal of neuroscience Vol. 32; no. 21; pp. 7384 - 7391
• Main Authors: de Rugy, Aymar, Loeb, Gerald E., Carroll, Timothy J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Society for Neuroscience 23.05.2012
• Subjects: Adaptation, Physiological - physiology; Adult; Biomechanical Phenomena; Computer Simulation; Electric Stimulation - methods; Electromyography - methods; Female; Humans; Male; Muscle Contraction - physiology; Muscle, Skeletal - physiology; Paralysis - physiopathology; Peripheral Nerves - physiology; Posture - physiology; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Recruitment, Neurophysiological - physiology; Wrist - physiology

When sharing load among multiple muscles, humans appear to select an optimal pattern of activation that minimizes costs such as the effort or variability of movement. How the nervous system achieves this behavior, however, is unknown. Here we show that contrary to predictions from optimal control th...