Imperial College London
Portrait Picture

ProfessorDarioFarina

Faculty of Engineering, Department of Bioengineering

Chair in Neurorehabilitation Engineering
 
 
 
//

Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 1387d.farina Website

 
 
//

Location

 

RSM 4.15Royal School of MinesSouth Kensington Campus

//

Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Germer:2020:1741-2552/ab5e08,
author = {Germer, CM and Del, Vecchio A and Negro, F and Farina, D and Elias, LA},
doi = {1741-2552/ab5e08},
journal = {Journal of Neural Engineering},
pages = {1--14},
title = {Neurophysiological correlates of force control improvement induced by sinusoidal vibrotactile stimulation},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1741-2552/ab5e08},
volume = {17},
year = {2020}
}
Download

RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Objective. An optimal level of vibrotactile stimulation has been shown to improve sensorimotor control in healthy and diseased individuals. However, the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms behind the enhanced motor performance caused by vibrotactile stimulation are yet to be fully understood. Therefore, here we aim to evaluate the effect of a cutaneous vibration on the firing behavior of motor units in a condition of improved force steadiness. Approach. Participants performed a visuomotor task, which consisted of low-intensity isometric contractions of the first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscle, while sinusoidal (175 Hz) vibrotactile stimuli with different intensities were applied to the index finger. High-density surface electromyogram was recorded from the FDI muscle, and a decomposition algorithm was used to extract the motor unit spike trains. Additionally, computer simulations were performed using a multiscale neuromuscular model to provide a potential explanation for the experimental findings. Main results. Experimental outcomes showed that an optimal level of vibration significantly improved force steadiness (estimated as the coefficient of variation of force). The decreased force variability was accompanied by a reduction in the variability of the smoothed cumulative spike train (as an estimation of the neural drive to the muscle), and the proportion of common inputs to the FDI motor nucleus. However, the interspike interval variability did not change significantly with the vibration. A mathematical approach, together with computer simulation results suggested that vibrotactile stimulation would reduce the variance of the common synaptic input to the motor neuron pool, thereby decreasing the low frequency fluctuations of the neural drive to the muscle and force steadiness. Significance. Our results demonstrate that the decreased variability in common input accounts for the enhancement in force control induced by vibrotactile stimulation.
AU  - Germer,CM
AU  - Del,Vecchio A
AU  - Negro,F
AU  - Farina,D
AU  - Elias,LA
DO  - 1741-2552/ab5e08
EP  - 14
PY  - 2020///
SN  - 1741-2552
SP  - 1
TI  - Neurophysiological correlates of force control improvement induced by sinusoidal vibrotactile stimulation
T2  - Journal of Neural Engineering
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1741-2552/ab5e08
UR  - http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000525506900001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1741-2552/ab5e08
VL  - 17
ER  -
Download