Motor control and spinal pattern generators in humans

Abstract

Spinal pattern generators can produce cyclic and acyclic muscular activation patterns. Here we introduce a model, which describes the interaction between spinal pattern generators and the musculoskeletal system. The behavior of thismodel will be demonstrated in three different examples, i.e. the reflexive behavior, the behavior during locomotion and during coupled arm movements. The results show that the model was capable of reproducing complex reflex patterns. For locomotion, it demonstrated the ability in adapting to changes and selecting appropriate afferents, so as to enable step-like motion to occur. Even phase transition during coupled arm movements could be described by themodel. Our results support the hypothesis, that depending on the movement task, humans are able to change the coupling within the spinal pattern generator, which provides an extremely effizient motor control strategy.