Influence of Afferentation from the Contralateral Hand during Imitation of Cello Bowing in Musically Untrained Individuals

Abstract

We studied hand movement during imitation of cello bowing while the rectilinear movement of the right bowing arm should occur in parallel with the bow orientation along the arm trajectory. Musically untrained individuals moved the bow across the bar that imitated the cello. Motion analysis was used to investigate the influence of a variety of experimental conditions: (1) bow motion on the bar surface, (2) on the left hand lying on the bar, and (3) in the air without touching the bar. It was found that the trajectory of the marker on the index finger at the bow frog differed significantly from the marker trajectory at the bow tip. In all conditions the marker on the index finger moved along a trajectory close to a straight line with an orientation slightly deviating from perpendicular to the bar. The marker trajectory at the bow tip deviated more from the perpendicular direction. Differences in the trajectories of markers at the bow frog and the bow tip depended on the condition of bow movement. The smallest differences were observed when the bow was moved on the left hand. It is suggested that sensation from the contralateral hand was used to create the internal representation of the relative position of the bow and the bar.