Rapid human arm movements often have velocity profiles consisting of several bell-shaped acceleration-deceleration phases, sometimes overlapping in time and sometimes appearing separately. We show how such sub-movement sequences can emerge naturally as an optimal control policy is approximated by a reinforcement learning system in the face of uncertainty and feedback delay. The system learns to...

Saccades, including fast phases of nystagmus, disappear during drowsiness and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, but are present during the alert state and REM sleep. The purpose of this study was to determine whether spontaneous nystagmus is present in patients with vestibular neuritis during REM sleep. Eight patients with spontaneous nystagmus due to vestibular neuritis and eight control pa...

Cell movement is a complex phenomenon primarily driven by the actin network beneath the cell membrane, and can be divided into three general components: protrusion of the leading edge of the cell, adhesion of the leading edge and deadhesion at the cell body and rear, and cytoskeletal contraction to pull the cell forward. Each of these steps is driven by physical forces generated by unique segme...

A model is proposed that integrates six phases of technology transfer into each step along the value chain from initial concept through manufacturing to products in customer hands. Management of each phase for each step leads to greater control, higher efficiency, and lower costs and frustration in the movement of technologies within product development. Indeed, the model leads to a true qualit...

THE EFFECTS OF SEPARATING VISUAL AND MOTOR WORKSPACES ON THE GENERALIZATION OF VISUOMOTOR ADAPTATION ACROSS MOVEMENT CONDITIONS Yuming Lei, B.S. Marquette University, 2013 Separating visual and proprioceptive information in terms of workspace locations during reaching movement has been shown to disturb transfer of visuomotor adaptation across the arms. Here, we investigated whether separating v...

We used amplitude modulation of cutaneous reflexes during leg cycling as a paradigm to investigate neural control mechanisms regulating forward (FWD) and backward (BWD) rhythmic limb movement. Our prediction was a simple reversal of reflex modulation during BWD leg cycling and context-dependent reflex modulation. Cutaneous reflexes were evoked by electrical stimulation delivered to the superfic...

BACKGROUND Differentiating movement disorders is critical for appropriate treatment, prognosis, and for clinical trials. In clinical trials this is especially important as effects can be diluted by inclusion of inappropriately diagnosed participants. In early disease duration phases, disorders often have overlapping clinical features, such as impairments in repetitive finger movement, making di...

Hippocampal place cells that fire together within the same cycle of theta oscillations represent the sequence of positions (movement trajectory) that a rat traverses on a linear track. Furthermore, it has been suggested that the encoding of these and other types of temporal memory sequences is organized by gamma oscillations nested within theta oscillations. Here, we examined whether gamma-rela...

Fifty-eight temporomandibular joints (TMJs) from 40 patients with TMJ-related symptoms were examined by means of magnetic resonance scans with modified gradient echo sequences and a special double coil. This technique yielded a good spatial resolution of the intra-articular soft tissues, especially the articular disc and the bone structure of the TMJ. In combination with an incremental jaw open...

The Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) possesses an active trapping mechanism to capture insects with one of the most rapid movements in the plant kingdom, as described by Darwin. This article presents a detailed experimental investigation of trap closure by mechanical and electrical stimuli and the mechanism of this process. Trap closure consists of three distinctive phases: a silent phase with...