Are the extrinsic muscles better suited for signaling joint angles or finger tip location?

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Publication Type Journal Article
School or College College of Engineering
Department Bioengineering
Creator Horch, Kenneth W.
Other Author Biggs, James; Clark, Frank
Title Are the extrinsic muscles better suited for signaling joint angles or finger tip location?
Date 1997
Description We used a biomechanical model of the human long finger to determine whether the extrinsic muscles are better suited for estimating the finger's joint angles or for estimating location of the finger tip. We found that two of the extrinsic muscles together could provide information sufficient to directly determine the location of the finger tip relative to Metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint, without having to determine any of the finger's joint angles. We also found that for some finger positions the extrinsic muscles provide ambiguous information about the finger's joint angles. These results suggest that the biomechanics of the finger and the extrinsic muscles lend themselves more readily to a determination of finger tip location than to a determination of joint angles. In light of these results it seems possible that human proprioception in the hand may reflect a sense of finger tip location, not joint angles.
Type Text
Publisher Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Volume 4
First Page 1709
Last Page 1712
DOI 10.1109/IEMBS.1997.757051
Subject Extrinsic muscles; Metacarpophalangeal joint; Biomechanical models
Subject LCSH Fingers -- Muscle; Finger joint; Fingers -- Models
Language eng
Conference Title 19th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. 'Magnificent Milestones and Emerging Opportunities in Medical Engineering'; 30 Oct.-2 Nov. 1997; Chicago, IL, USA
Bibliographic Citation Biggs, J., Horch, K. W., & Clark, F. (1997). Are the extrinsic muscles better suited for signaling joint angles or finger tip location?. Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology - Proceedings, 4, 1709-12.
Rights Management (c) 1997 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/IEMBS.1997.757051
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 409,088 bytes
Identifier ir-main,11578
ARK ark:/87278/s67w6wmr
Setname ir_uspace
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Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s67w6wmr
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