title: Leg automaticity is stronger than arm automaticity during simultaneous arm and leg cycling.
abstract: Recent studies indicate that human locomotion is quadrupedal in nature. An automatic rhythm-generating system is thought to play a crucial role in controlling arm and leg movements. In the present study, we attempted to elucidate differences between intrinsic arm and leg automaticity by investigating cadence variability during simultaneous arm and leg (AL) cycling. Participants performed AL cycling with visual feedback of arm or leg cadence. Participants were asked to focus their attention to match the predetermined cadence; this affects the automaticity of the rhythm-generating system. Leg cadence variability was only mildly affected when the participants intended to precisely adjust either their arm or leg cycling cadence to a predetermined value. In contrast, arm cadence variability significantly increased when the participants adjusted their leg cycling cadence to a predetermined value. These findings suggest that different neural mechanisms underlie the automaticities of arm and leg cycling and that the latter is stronger than the former during AL cycling.
authors.affiliation: Division of Health and Sport Education, United of Graduate School of Education, Tokyo Gakugei University, Japan; Department of Physical Education, Faculty of Education, Kumamoto University, Japan. Electronic address: sakamoto@educ.kumamoto-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.affiliation: Division of Health and Sport Education, United of Graduate School of Education, Tokyo Gakugei University, Japan; Motor Control Section, Department of Rehabilitation for the Movement Functions, Research Institute, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tazoe
authors.affiliation: Division of Health and Sport Education, United of Graduate School of Education, Tokyo Gakugei University, Japan; Motor Control Section, Department of Rehabilitation for the Movement Functions, Research Institute, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Japan; Department of Integrative Physiology, Kyorin University of School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.affiliation: Division of Health and Sport Education, United of Graduate School of Education, Tokyo Gakugei University, Japan; Department of Education, Uekusa Gakuen University, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Endoh
authors.affiliation: Division of Health and Sport Education, United of Graduate School of Education, Tokyo Gakugei University, Japan; Department of Health and Sports Sciences, Faculty of Education, Chiba University, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Komiyama
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001132:Arm / Q000502:physiology*; D056228:Feedback, Sensory; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Arm and leg cycling, cadence variability; Attention; Central pattern generators