Influence of Strategy on Muscle Activity During Impact Movements

Participants (N = 10) made flexions or extensions about the elbow. Movements either were pointing (i.e., self-terminated) or terminated by impact on a barrier. The author examined how the trajectory and the electromyographic (EMG) patterns varied according to the distance moved, the instruction provided concerning speed, or the type of termination. Variations in kinematics induced by changes in the target distance or the instruction regarding speed were the same for impact and pointing movements. In comparison with a pointing movement of similar distance and speed instruction, an impact movement (a) accelerated longer and reached a higher velocity, (b) had a longer agonist EMG burst, and (c) had a low level of contraction that started slightly after the agonist burst and continued throughout the movement but had little or no antagonist burst. Because the different types of movements required different forces from the muscles, there were systematic, task-specific differences in EMG patterns that reflected task-specific differences in central control. The results of this experiment demonstrate that impact movements share some of the rules used in the control of other tasks, such as pointing and reversing movements. The sharing is not imposed by mechanical or physiological constraints but, rather, represents the imposition of internal constraints.