title: Submaximal expression of the bilateral deficit.
abstract: Thirty-six participants performed bilateral and unilateral isometric elbow flexion trials at what they perceived to be 100, 75, 50, and 25% of maximal effort. Absolute bilateral deficits ranged from--16% at 25% effort to--10% at 100% effort. The deficit included a component independent of consciousness and a component inversely related to intensity attributable to perceptual differences between unilateral and bilateral tasks. Forty-two participants performed bilateral and unilateral isometric elbow flexion trials at 100, 80, 60, 40, and 20% of maximal effort. Perception of effort in submaximal bilateral trials was consistently and significantly higher (5.5-9.6%) than corresponding unilateral trials. These data suggest that the bilateral deficit exists at submaximal levels of effort and is based on perceptual and physiological components.
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Southwestern University, Georgetown, TX 78627-0770, USA. mcleans@southwestern.edu
authors.forename: Scott P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: McLean
authors.forename: Peter F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Vint
authors.forename: Amanda J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Stember
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001132:Arm / Q000502:physiology; D004551:Elbow Joint / Q000502:physiology; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007537:Isometric Contraction / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*