Publications related to Degrees of freedom problem

Accelerometry as a tool for measuring the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation

Pierre Theopistos Vassiliadis, Julie Duqué

Objective: We predicted that accelerometry would be a viable alternative to electromyography (EMG) for assessing fundamental Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) measurements (e.g. Resting Motor Threshold (RMT), recruitment curves, latencies). New Metho ...

Elsevier2024

An objective skill assessment framework for microsurgical anastomosis based on ALI scores

Aude Billard, Kunpeng Yao, Soheil Gholami, Torstein Ragnar Meling, Anaëlle Olivia Marie Manon

IntroductionThe current assessment and standardization of microsurgical skills are subjective, posing challenges in reliable skill evaluation. We aim to address these limitations by developing a quantitative and objective framework for accurately assessing ...

Springer Wien2024

Contrasting action and posture coding with hierarchical deep neural network models of proprioception

Alexander Mathis, Mackenzie Mathis, Kai Jappe Sandbrink, Matthias Bethge, Pranav Mamidanna

Biological motor control is versatile, efficient, and depends on proprioceptive feedback. Muscles are flexible and undergo continuous changes, requiring distributed adaptive control mechanisms that continuously account for the body's state. The canonical r ...

eLIFE SCIENCES PUBL LTD2023

Fast-Spiking Interneurons of the Premotor Cortex Contribute to Initiation and Execution of Spontaneous Actions

Silvestro Micera, Maria Pasquini

Planning and execution of voluntary movement depend on the contribution of distinct classes of neurons in primary motor and premotor areas. However, timing and pattern of activation of GABAergic cells during specific motor behaviors remain only partly unde ...

SOC NEUROSCIENCE2023

Understanding motor control and impairment: An upper-limb model for muscular assessment

Tristan Jean Robin Barjavel

The human upper limb is a complex musculoskeletal system that can still perform various tasks with impressive efficacy thanks to the ability of the central nervous system to control and modulate the activation of more than 40 muscles. Stroke is a leading ...

EPFL2023

Investigating the neuromechanical control of healthy gait modulation and pathological gaits observed in cerebral palsy using neuromuscular simulations

Andrea Di Russo

Locomotion is based on a sophisticated interaction among the environment, the musculoskeletal system, the spinal cord, and the brain locomotor areas. Quality of life is strongly related to the proper capability of this movement. However, many pathologies, ...

EPFL2023

Bidirectional bionic limbs: a perspective bridging technology and physiology

Silvestro Micera

Precise control of bionic limbs relies on robust decoding of motor commands from nerves or muscles signals and sensory feedback from artificial limbs to the nervous system by interfacing the afferent nerve pathways. Implantable devices for bidirectional co ...

IOP Publishing Ltd2022

Learning-related congruent and incongruent changes of excitation and inhibition in distinct cortical areas

Carl Petersen, Sylvain Crochet, Romain Guiet, Vahid Esmaeili, Georgios Foustoukos, Yanqi Liu, Keita Tamura, Anastasiia Oryshchuk, Reza Asri

Excitatory and inhibitory neurons in diverse cortical regions are likely to contribute differentially to the transformation of sensory information into goal-directed motor plans. Here, we investigate the relative changes across mouse sensorimotor cortex in ...

2022

Enhancing our understanding of human fine manipulation skills and advancing robot dexterity in grasping

Kunpeng Yao

From surgery to watchmaking, fine-manipulation skills highly rely on the dexterity afforded by both hands. Coordination is key to human dexterity. Specifically, humans need not only to govern the abundant intrinsic degrees of freedom (DOFs) to allocate con ...

EPFL2022

Combining Reflexes and External Sensory Information in a Neuromusculoskeletal Model to Control a Quadruped Robot

Auke Ijspeert, Azhar Aulia Saputra

This article examines the importance of integrating locomotion and cognitive information for achieving dynamic locomotion from a viewpoint combining biology and ecological psychology. We present a mammalian neuromusculoskeletal model from external sensory ...

IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC2022

Reward boosts reinforcement-based motor learning

Friedhelm Christoph Hummel, Pierre Theopistos Vassiliadis, Julie Duqué

Besides relying heavily on sensory and reinforcement feedback, motor skill learning may also depend on the level of motivation experienced during training. Yet, how motivation by reward modulates motor learning remains unclear. In 90 healthy subjects, we i ...

2021

Impaired reach-to-grasp kinematics in parkinsonian patients relates to dopamine-dependent, subthalamic beta bursts

Silvestro Micera, Matteo Vissani

Excessive beta-band oscillations in the subthalamic nucleus are key neural features of Parkinson's disease. Yet the distinctive contributions of beta low and high bands, their dependency on striatal dopamine, and their correlates with movement kinematics a ...

NATURE RESEARCH2021

Uncontrolled manifold analysis of the effects of a perturbation-based training on the organization of leg joint variance in cerebellar ataxia

Silvestro Micera

Walking patterns of persons affected by cerebellar ataxia (CA) are characterized by wide stride-to-stride variability ascribable to: the background pathology-related sensory-motor noise; the motor redundancy, i.e., an excess of elemental degrees of freedom ...

SPRINGER2021

Variability of Muscle Synergies in Hand Grasps: Analysis of Intra- and Inter-Session Data

Una Pale

Background. Muscle synergy analysis is an approach to understand the neurophysiological mechanisms behind the hypothesized ability of the Central Nervous System (CNS) to reduce the dimensionality of muscle control. The muscle synergy approach is also used ...

2020

A multimodal approach to capture post-stroke temporal dynamics of recovery

Dimitri Nestor Alice Van De Ville, Silvestro Micera, Jenifer Cléa Miehlbradt, Nawal Noëlle Kinany, Elvira Pirondini, Martina Coscia, Christian Giang, Camilla Pierella

Objective.Several training programs have been developed in the past to restore motor functions after stroke. Their efficacy strongly relies on the possibility to assess individual levels of impairment and recovery rate. However, commonly used clinical scal ...

2020

Effect of task conditions on human hand pose selection strategies in bimanual fine manipulation tasks

Many manipulations in human everyday activities rely on the collaboration of our two hands. Bimanual fine manipulation tasks are particularly demanding as precise coordination among fingers of both hands is required. Yet, despite the abundant degrees of fr ...

Society for Neural Control of Movement2020

Central and peripheral mechanisms: a multimodal approach to understanding and restoring human motor control

Nawal Noëlle Kinany

All human actions involve motor control. Even the simplest movement requires the coordinated recruitment of many muscles, orchestrated by neuronal circuits in the brain and the spinal cord. As a consequence, lesions affecting the central nervous system, su ...

EPFL2020

Lack of effect on ambulation of dalfampridine-ER (4-AP) treatment in adult SMA patients

Brian Donal McCabe

SMA is a genetically determined motor system disorder that results in muscle weakness, selective motor neuron death, muscle atrophy, and impaired functional mobility. In SMA model systems, long-term treatment with 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) has been shown to i ...

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD2020

Hand Control With Invasive Feedback Is Not Impaired by Increased Cognitive Load

Silvestro Micera, Francesco Maria Petrini, Edoardo D'Anna, Ivo Strauss, Giacomo Valle

Recent experiments have shown that neural stimulation can successfully restore sensory feedback in upper-limb amputees improving their ability to control the prosthesis. However, the potential advantages of invasive sensory feedback with respect to non-inv ...

2020

Motor improvement estimation and task adaptation for personalized robot-aided therapy: a feasibility study

Silvestro Micera, Jenifer Cléa Miehlbradt, Nawal Noëlle Kinany, Elvira Pirondini, Camilla Pierella, Martina Coscia, Christian Giang

Background In the past years, robotic systems have become increasingly popular in upper limb rehabilitation. Nevertheless, clinical studies have so far not been able to confirm superior efficacy of robotic therapy over conventional methods. The personaliza ...

2020