title: An empirical note on attaining a spatial target after distorting the initial conditions of movement via muscle vibration.
abstract: Can one's limb be accurately positioned to a spatial location without a veridical estimate of the initial conditions of movement? The experiment reported here examined this question by distorting perception of a limb's starting position via muscle vibration. Subjects executed rapid flexion movements under no-vibration, contralateral arm vibration, and ipsilateral arm vibration conditions. Vibration was applied to the biceps for 10 sec prior to the start of a reproduction movement. The results showed that vibration on the ipsilateral arm caused a significant increase in reproduction error, relative to the no-vibration and contralateral-vibration conditions. This finding provides additional evidence that accurate knowledge about the initial conditions of movement is a necessary component in positioning a limb.
authors.affiliation: Motor Behavior Laboratory, S301 Fieldhouse, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Larish
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Volp
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Wallace