Sensory modulation of muscle synergies for motor adaptation during natural behaviors
Name
156911856-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
13.4 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
6d32a0e1f016f5114f065c0cefc98c58
Author(s)
Cheung, Vincent Chi-Kwan
Advisor(s)
Emilio Bizzi.
Date Issued
2007
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
To achieve any motor behavior, the central nervous system (CNS) must coordinate the many degrees of freedom in the musculoskeletal apparatus. It has been suggested that the CNS simplifies this formidable task of coordination by grouping multiple muscles together into units of activation, or muscle synergies. Previous studies have shown that electromyogram (EMG) signals collected from many muscles during natural behaviors can be reconstructed by linearly combining a few synergies, identified by the non-negative matrix factorization algorithm. But to what extent synergies are neural constraints, or merely structures reflecting experimental constraints, has remained an open question. I address this question with the hypothesis that, muscle synergies are robust neural patterns constraining motor outputs. The strategy adopted was that of analyzing EMGs collected before and after delivery of a perturbation to the motor system. In my first experiment, EMGs from bullfrog muscles were recorded during locomotor behaviors before and after deafferentation. Systematic comparison of intact and deafferented synergies suggests that most of the synergies remained unchanged after afferent removal.
(cont.) In my second experiment, the frog hindlimb was perturbed by either an inertial load or an elastic load. Using a novel algorithm capable of simultaneously extracting shared and specific synergies, I demonstrate that, most synergies were shared between the different conditions, but their activation patterns were reversibly altered by loading. Overall, my results suggest that muscle synergies are robust, centrally organized structures, and descending and afferent signals cooperate in modulating their activations so that the resulting motor commands can be efficiently adapted to the external environment.
Description
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, 2007.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 162-170).
Subjects
Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.
MIT Department
Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
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