Performance of a motor task is improved by practicing a specific task with added 'challenges' to a training regimen. We tested the hypothesis that, in the absence of brain control, the performance of a motor task is enhanced by training using specific variations of that task. We utilized modifications of step performance training to improve the ability of spinal rats to forward step. After a co...

Aspects of human motor control can be inferred from the coordination of muscles during movement. For instance, by combining multimuscle electromyographic (EMG) recordings with human neuroanatomy, it is possible to estimate alpha-motoneuron (MN) pool activations along the spinal cord. It has previously been shown that the spinal motor output fluctuates with the body's center-of-mass motion, with...

Visual cues open a unique window to the understanding of Parkinson's disease (PD). These cues can temporarily but dramatically improve PD motor symptoms. Although details are unclear, cues are believed to suppress pathological basal ganglia (BG) activity through activation of corticostriatal pathways. In this study, we investigated human BG neurophysiology under different cued conditions. We ev...

Muscular strength and power generating ability decline with advancing age. Older adults adapt their lower limb motor patterns to cope with these declines in muscle function. When mechanical demands approach limits of lower limb muscular capacity, motor patterns must be adapted to produce a desired movement. The term “motor pattern” is used to broadly represent the kinematic and kinetic profile ...

Step-Motor is a kind of important drive element in automatic control of machines (NC machine tools etc.). Many researchers have pointed out that the audio card could be applied in many fields such as data acquisition, motor control etc. Its advantages : no driving program needed to write, good compatibility with operation system and no update problem of the driving program etc. The important ch...

The turtle generates a variety of coordinated hindlimb movements, including different forms of locomotion and scratching. The intact turtle produces forward step, forward swim, and backpaddle. Following spinal cord transection, rostral, pocket, and caudal scratches can be evoked by mechanical stimulation of the shell. Comparisons of the kinematics and motor patterns of these six behaviors provi...