Visual feedback attenuates force fluctuations induced by a stressor.
OBJECTIVE
The fluctuations in force during a steady contraction can be influenced by age, vision, and level of physiological arousal. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of a stressor on the force fluctuations and information transmission exhibited by young, middle-aged, and older adults when a pinch-grip task was performed with and without visual feedback.


METHODS
Thirty-six men and women (19-86 yr) participated in a protocol that comprised anticipatory (30 min), stressor (15 min), and recovery periods (25 min). The stressor was a series of noxious electrical stimuli applied to the dorsal surface of the left hand. Subjects sustained a pinch-grip force with the right hand at 2% of the maximal voluntary contraction force. The normalized fluctuations in pinch-grip force (coefficient of variation), information transmission (log2 signal:noise), and the spectra for the force were quantified across the 70-min protocol.


RESULTS
Removal of visual feedback exacerbated the force fluctuations (3.83+/- 3.15 vs 2.82+/- 1.64%) and reduced the information transmission (5.01+/- 0.86 vs 5.34+/- 0.71 bits) only during the stressor period. The effect was similar for all age groups. Older adults exhibited greater force fluctuations and lower information transmission compared with young and middle-aged adults, especially during the stressor period. The impairments in fine motor performance during the stressor were associated with an enhancement of the power at 1-2 Hz in the force spectrum (R=0.41-0.52).


CONCLUSIONS
Removal of visual feedback increased the force fluctuations and decreased information transmission during a stressor period, which suggests that integration of visual feedback can attenuate the stressor-induced enhancement of synaptic input received by the motor neuron pool.
Christou
Evangelos A
EA
Department of Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0354, USA. echristo@colorado.edu
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005246:Feedback; D005260:Female; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies