Attenuation of the evoked responses with repeated exposure to proprioceptive disturbances is muscle specific.
In response to repetitive proprioceptive disturbances (vibration) applied to postural muscles, the evoked response has been shown to decrease in amplitude within the first few trials. The present experiment investigated whether this attenuation of the response to vibration stimulation (90Hz, 5s) was muscle specific or would be transferred to the antagonist muscles. Sixteen participants stood upright with eyes closed. One half of the participants practiced 15 tibialis vibrations followed by 15 calf vibrations (TIB-CALF order), while the other half practiced the opposite order (CALF-TIB order). Antero-posterior trunk displacements were measured at the level of C7 and centre of foot pressure (COP). EMG activity of the tibialis anterior (TA) and gastrocnemius lateralis (GL) was also measured. Results showed that evoked postural responses as well as EMG activity decreased with practice when vibration was applied to either calf or tibialis muscles. However, such attenuation of the response appeared muscle specific since it did not generalise when the same vibration stimulus was later applied onto the antagonist muscles.
Caudron
Sébastien
S
Laboratoire de Psychologie et de NeuroCognition, UMR 5105 CNRS-Université de Savoie, BP 1104, 73011 Chambéry Cedex, France.
Langlois
Lucas
L
Nougier
Vincent
V
Guerraz
Michel
M
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000502:physiology; D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D007866:Leg / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D011434:Proprioception / Q000502:physiology*; D013909:Thorax / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology; D014732:Vibration; D055815:Young Adult