Concurrent Contribution of Co-contraction to Error Reduction during Dynamic Adaptation of the Wrist

MRI-compatible robots provide a means of studying brain function involved in complex sensorimotor learning processes, such as adaptation. To properly interpret the neural correlates of behavior measured using MRI-compatible robots, it is critical to validate the measurements of motor performance obtained via such devices. Previously, we characterized adaptation of the wrist in response to a force field applied via an MRI-compatible robot, the MR-SoftWrist. Compared to arm reaching tasks, we observed lower end magnitude of adaptation, and reductions in trajectory errors beyond those explained by adaptation. Thus, we formed two hypotheses: that the observed differences were due to measurement errors of the MR-SoftWrist; or that impedance control plays a significant role in control of wrist movements during dynamic perturbations. To test both hypotheses, we performed a two-session counterbalanced study. In both sessions, participants performed wrist pointing in three force field conditions (zero force, constant, random). Participants used either the MR-SoftWrist or the UDiffWrist, a non-MRI-compatible wrist robot, for task execution in session one, and the other device in session two. To measure anticipatory co-contraction associated with impedance control, we collected surface EMG of four forearm muscles. We found no significant effect of device on behavior, validating the measurements of adaptation obtained with the MR-SoftWrist. EMG measures of co-contraction explained a significant portion of the variance in excess error reduction not attributable to adaptation. These results support the hypothesis that for the wrist, impedance control significantly contributes to reductions in trajectory errors in excess of those explained by adaptation.