Proprioceptive control of cyclical bimanual forearm movements across different movement frequencies as revealed by means of tendon vibration

The effect of unilateral tendon vibration on the performance of cyclical bimanual forearm movements was investigated across different cycling frequencies (from 0.67 to 2.53 Hz). The spatiotemporal features of the individual limb motions as well as their coordination were studied. Tendon vibration was found to result in a substantial reduction in the amplitude of the vibrated arm, leaving the nonvibrated arm unaffected. The vibration-induced amplitude reduction decreased from 26% to 11% as cycling frequency increased even though significant reductions were still observed at the highest cycling frequencies. Tendon vibration was also found to result in an increase of the phase lead of the dominant arm with respect to the nondominant arm, but this effect was not modulated by cycling frequency. The data argue in favor of a closed-loop mode of movement control during cyclical high-speed movements. It is suggested that kinesthetic afferent information is processed and used to guide action up to near-maximal movement speeds, reinforcing recent claims with respect to visual information processing. Electronic Publication