Effects of preparatory period on anticipatory postural control and contingent negative variation associated with rapid arm movement in standing posture

Abstract We investigated CNS motor preparation state and anticipatory postural muscle activation while subjects performed bilateral rapid arm movement at various intervals between warning and response stimulus (preparatory period) during standing. Motor preparation state was evaluated by integrated values of the late components of the contingent negative variation (late CNV), obtained by averaging electroencephalograms during the last 100 ms of the preparatory period. For quantifying anticipatory postural muscle activation, we measured the onset of burst activity in postural muscles (lumbar paraspinal, biceps femoris, and gastrocnemius) with respect to anterior deltoid activity and integrated values of preceding activation. Subjects performed the arm movement with minimal delay in the warning stimulus–response stimulus–motor response paradigm under preparatory periods of 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5 s. Late CNV did not differ between the 2.0-s and 3.0-s period, but was significantly smaller in the 3.5-s period than in the 2.0-s period, suggesting difficulty in predicting response timing in the 3.5-s period. No change was found on integrated values of preceding activations of postural muscles. Burst onset of all postural muscles significantly preceded anterior deltoid activation in all periods. Burst activity for gastrocnemius only occurred earlier in the 3.5-s period than in the 2.0-s and 3.0-s periods. Weak correlations were observed between late CNV and onset time of gastrocnemius activity. It is suggested that earlier activation of gastrocnemius is a strategy adopted when response stimulus timing is relatively difficult to predict.