A multimuscle state analysis of adult motor learning

We introduce a new EMG state analysis to test two competing hypotheses abou t the role of muscle coactivity in learning a complex, multijoint reaching movement. Following Bernstein, one hypothesis is that as a task is learned, coactivity should decrease as degrees of freedom are released and limb sti ffness is reduced. An alternative hypothesis is that as movement speed incr eases with learning, muscle coactivity should increase, possibly to stabili ze joints against high inertial forces. Three participants performed a vert ical reaching movement identical to that used by Schneider et al. We monito red the activity of four arm and shoulder muscles as participants completed 100 practice trials. Each frame of EMG activity was assigned to one of 16 possible combinations of the four monitored muscles based on an on-off acti vation threshold. This analysis yielded a time-based summary of muscle coac tivity during the movement and across practice trials. Results of the state analysis supported the second hypothesis. As participants decreased their movement times over practice, coactivity increased - participants used more three- and four-muscle coactivity states. Changes were especially dramatic during the braking phase of the Up and Down portion of the vertical moveme nt. When participants performed deliberately slow movements after speeded p ractice, three- and four-muscle coactivity was suppressed. We suggest that increased use of muscle coactivity may serve to counteract unwanted rotatio nal forces generated during fast movements.