Neuromotor Psychophysical Aspects of Central Programming and Peripheral Regulation of Movement in Humans

A continuing issue in motor control research is the relative contributions of central motor commands and somesthetic peripheral inputs in regulating movement. There is experimental evidence that supports the seemingly contradictory viewpoints that movements can be controlled entirely by central commands (e.g. [6, 9]) or that peripheral inputs provide significant information for accurate motor performance [11, 12]. In part, the differences between the two sets of results may be resolved by recognizing that the dependence of movements on sensory inputs is related to the intended speed and accuracy of a movement. With this formulation in mind it may be argued that rapid and relatively uncontrolled movements can be programmed centrally [4, 10, 13], but that slow tracking or accurately intended movements make substantial use of somesthetic inputs [11, 16].