title: Time-dependence between upper arm muscles activity during rapid movements: observation of the proportional effects predicted by the kinematic theory.
abstract: Rapid human movements can be assimilated to the output of a neuromuscular system with an impulse response modeled by a Delta-Lognormal equation. In such a model, the main assumption concerns the cumulative time delays of the response as it propagates toward the effector following a command. To verify the validity of this assumption, delays between bursts in electromyographic (EMG) signals of agonist and antagonist muscles activated during a rapid hand movement were investigated. Delays were measured between the surface EMG signals of six muscles of the upper limb during single rapid handwriting strokes. From EMG envelopes, regressions were obtained between the timing of the burst of activity produced by each monitored muscle. High correlation coefficients were obtained supporting the proportionality of the cumulative time delays, the basic hypothesis of the Delta-Lognormal model. A paradigm governing the sequence of muscle activities in a rapid movement could, in the long run, be useful for applications dealing with the analysis and synthesis of human movements.
authors.affiliation: École Polytechnique de Montréal, Laboratoire Scribens, Département de Génie Électrique, C.P. 6079, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC, Canada H3C 3A7. Electronic address: rejean.plamondon@polymtl.ca.
authors.forename: Réjean
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Plamondon
authors.forename: Moussa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Djioua
authors.forename: Pierre A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Mathieu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena / Q000502:physiology*; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006236:Handwriting; D006801:Humans; D007699:Kinesthesis / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation*; D009469:Neuromuscular Junction / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D034941:Upper Extremity / Q000294:innervation