[Proprioceptive regulation of standing in the human. An electromyography study].

Electromyographic experiments, undertaken in connection with action of standing, are here described. A short, sharp push given in an anterior or posterior direction caused an abrupt upsetting of balance, whereby adaptive reactions of the relevant muscles were found to occur after an interval of 60 to 90 msecs. These reactions, although having become automatic as a result of the early-acquired upright posture, are in fact of a voluntary nature and fully controllable by the will.

[Orientation of art, orientation of writing and visual field dominance. An experimental and cultural historical study].

Investigations have shown that 75% of children aged 3-6 years, who have not as yet acquired the ability to write, tend to draw and sketch from the left to the right side. The same tendency has also been found in adults with regard to drawing, which indicates a dominance of the left field of vision when the cerebral optical analysis is used, as it invariably is for the appreciation of three-dimensional figures. The tendency to draw from the left to the right side can be traced back to works of art that date from as far back as the 6th century B.

[The profile direction toward right and left as seen from a historical study of cultural development. A dominance problem (author's transl)].

Eighty percent of right handers drawing a human profile, direct it towards the left. The neurophysiological basis for this fact and the dominant role that the right hemisphere plays in higher visual performances is discussed. The preference for the left profile direction is traced back to the early Greek period in paintings, drawings, coin portraits, gems, cameos, and vase portraits.

[On crossed reflexes in human leg motoricity (author's transl)].

Crossed reflexes induced in the muscles of the calf were studied in 30 neurologically healthy volunteers. Almost half of the volunteers showed a pronounced reaction of the contralateral gastrocnemius muscle and of the soleus on ipsilateral stimulation of the corresponding muscle. The results vary, but they show that fundamentally there are processes of facilitation and inhibition due to the stimulation of the tension receptors or Golgi tendon organs of the stimulated muscle and also to the muscle spindle afferents of the antagonistically stretched muscle.