Kinesthetic Information and Sensorimotor Functions for the Control of Limb Movement

We reviewed the literature on the peripheral sources of kinesthetic information and some relevant sensorimotor functions in the central nervous system. Human movement is thought to be controlled by a hybrid control system consisting of closed-loop and openloop control mechanisms, in reference to kinesthetic information available from various sensory receptors. Kinesthetic information about limb position and movement is believed to be available primarily from muscle and tendon receptors, with cutaneous and joint receptors supplementarily subserving to sense limb position and movement. On receiving kinesthetic signals available from sensory receptors, spinal segmental mechanisms are responsible for either facilitating or inhibiting the activity of the motoneurones of agonist and antagonist muscles used in limb movements. These facilitatory and inhibitory actions in the spinal segmental systems can be examined by measuring the H-reflex (Hoffmann, 1918), with several careful considerations being needed when using the H-reflex technique. Sensory information is sent to the central nervous system via spinal ascending pathways, and is processed in cortical and subcortical sensorimotor systems. The cortical and subcortical systems make movement plans and prepare motor commands to be sent to the spinal segmental systems. The cortical motor system is believed to send a copy of the motor commands (efference copy), in advance of the planned movement to be actually executed, to cortical sensory areas as well. This efference copy sent to the sensory areas is thought to subserve to effectively evaluate the kinesthetic information available, via spinal pathways, from the execution of the movement. Various human movements, such as limb joint movements, are thus executed with various sensorimotor neural network systems being activated. To further understand the mechanisms underlying human movement we should fully take into account the various neural levels of sensorimotor functions in relation to the specific neural and behavioural conditions of the movement to be examined

Behavioral and Methodological Issues in Motor Short-Term Memory and its Basic Experimental Paradigm

We examined in this study the basic behavioral correlates of motor short-term memory and several methodological issues with respect to the investigative paradigm. We first reviewed pioneering studies on motor short-term memory and then addressed methodological issues including dependent measures, directional biasing effects, and separation of movement cues. Finally, we examined the methodological aspects of the typical investigative paradigm used in motor short-term memory research

Behavioural Models of Motor Control and Short-Term Memory

We examined in this review article the behavioural and conceptual models of motor control and short-term memory which have intensively been investigated since the 1970s. First, we reviewed both the dual-storage model of short-term memory in which movement information is stored and a typical model of motor control which emphasizes the importance of efferent factors. We then examined two models of preselection effects: a cognitive model and a cognitive/ efferent model. Following this we reviewed specific models of the control of movement endlocation (the mass-spring model) and of movement distance (the coding strategy explanations). Finally, we discussed the contribution of both kinesthetic signals and abstract code to the storage of location and distance information for controlling limb movements

Effect of observation combined with motor imagery of a skilled hand-motor task on motor cortical excitability: Difference between novice and expert

We examined the effects of observation combined with motor imagery (MI) of a skilled hand-motor task on motor cortex excitability, which was assessed by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Novices and experts at 3-ball cascade juggling (3BCJ) participated in this study. In one trial, the subjects observed a video clip of 3BCJ while imagining performing it. In addition, the subjects also imagined performing 3BCJ without video clip observation. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from the hand muscles that were activated by the task during each trial. In the novices, the MEP amplitude was significantly increased by video clip observation combined with MI. In contrast, MI without video clip observation significantly increased the MEP amplitude of the experts. These results suggest that action observation of 3BCJ increases the ability of novices to make their MI performing the task. Meanwhile, experts use their own motor program to recall their MI of the task

Information-Processing Mediating the Location-Distance Interference in Motor Short-Term Memory

We reviewed the literature on basic psychological correlates of the well-known phenomenon of the location-distance interference in motor short-term memory (Kerr, 1978 ; Walsh, Russell, Imanaka, & James, 1979). The location-distance interference in motor short-term memory has frequently been demonstrated as an unavoidable interference phenomenon observed in the reproduction of movement location and distance in arm positioning. The most important aspect of this phenomenon is that even when a subject concentrates on a specific cue (i.e., either end-location or distance) the other cue is also coded unintentionally and, as a result, the reproduction movement guided on the basis of the specific cue is unavoidably influenced by the other nonspecific cue. In thls review article, we first reviewed the literature on the basic theories and nature of shortterm memory, particularly on the limited processing capacity. We then referred to the unlimited, automatic processing in visual-verbal domains, referring to the Stroop phenomenon. Finally, in conjunction with the notion of automatic processing, we examined the possible aspects of information processing which may be responsible for mediating the location-distance interference in motor short-term memor