Speed and accuracy of compensatory responses to limb disturbances.

Abstract

This study examines the speed and accuracy of compensatory responses to flexion-extension perturbations of the wrist in the horizontal plane. In Experiments 1 and 2 the subjects were required to establish an initial flexion or extension force of approximately 15% maximum at a prescribed initial muscle length. The perturbations changed the load force by +/-5% in both simple and choice reaction protocols. The results showed that the latencies to compensate for the perturbation were longer when the direction of disturbance was unknown (i.e., choice effect) and when the perturbation unloaded the muscle (i.e., directional effect). Accuracy constraints on the compensatory response increased movement time and reduced the variability of latency without affecting mean latency. In Experiment 3, a visual stimulus generated a comparable choice effect on latency to that produced by the perturbations, but no directional effect in relation to the preload was apparent. Our behavioral analysis of compensatory responses triggered by wrist perturbations confirms that these responses are susceptible to variables that influence the initiation of voluntary movements. Our analysis also demonstrates a directional preload effect that is stimulus specific.