Inducing any virtual two-dimensional movement in humans by applying muscle tendon vibration.

In humans, tendon vibration evokes illusory sensation of movement. We developed a model mimicking the muscle afferent patterns corresponding to any two-dimensional movement and checked its validity by inducing writing illusory movements through specific sets of muscle vibrators. Three kinds of illusory movements were compared.

Recurrent inhibition of wrist extensor motoneurones: a single unit study on a deafferented patient.

In order to document the effects of recurrent inhibition on the firing times of human alpha-motoneurones during natural motor behaviour, a case study was performed on a deafferented patient. The fact that this subject had completely lost the large-diameter sensory afferents provided us with a unique opportunity of selectively stimulating the motor axons in the nerves. The tonic activity of single motor units (n = 21) was recorded in the extensor carpi radialis muscles while applying randomly timed antidromic electrical stimuli to the radial nerve.

Pharmacologically induced enhancement of recurrent inhibition in humans: effects on motoneurone discharge patterns.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of spinal recurrent inhibition on human motoneurone discharge patterns. The tonic discharge activity of motor unit pairs was recorded in the extensor carpi radialis (ECR) and abductor digiti minimi (ADM) muscles during voluntary isometric contraction. While undergoing continuous intravenous saline (NaCl 0.

Delayed and prolonged effects of a near threshold EPSP on the firing time of human alpha-motoneurones.

In order to investigate the effects of near-threshold excitatory inputs on the precise timing of the action potentials during the tonic discharge of human motoneurones, the activity of single motor units was recorded in the extensor carpi radialis muscles while tendon taps (indentation, 0.1 mm; duration, 1 ms) were being delivered irregularly at a mean rate of 0.8 s(-1).