Musculoskeletal Design, Muscle Activity and Movement

9507479协调运动既需要神经计划，也需要有关肌肉和骨骼生物力学的信息。该计划的实施是一种产生运动的运动神经元和肌肉的激活模式。这项研究的目标是了解控制复杂运动的实现模式的构建，以及它们在其下工作的生物力学约束。模型系统是被青蛙捕获的猎物。猎物捕获在实验室中很容易被刺激，而且是一个复杂的运动，需要几对对抗肌肉的快速协调。这项研究使用生物力学和神经生物学相结合的多学科方法来确定肌肉骨骼系统的设计如何与肌肉活动相互作用来产生运动。体型不同的物种内部和之间的比较将显示，在体型相似的动物中，肌肉活动和运动模式是如何与身体大小相关的。同时还将分析喂食装置的形态、与喂食行为相关的运动以及肌肉激活模式。这些研究将提供对肌肉激活策略如何随身体大小变化的洞察。第二种方法将比较形状不同的物种之间的肌肉骨骼设计、肌肉活动、运动模式和摄食性能。这将展示肌肉骨骼设计和肌肉活动模式如何演变为产生特定的运动模式和性能特征，如速度、准确性和效率。这项研究的结果将对理解运动的神经控制及其进化具有广泛的意义。

9507479 Coordinated movement requires both a neural plan and information about the biomechanics of muscles and skeleton. The implementation of the plan is a pattern of activation of motor neurons and muscles that produces the movement. The goal of this research is to understand the construction of implementation patterns that control complex movement, and the biomechanical constraints under which they work. The model system is prey capture by frogs. Prey capture is easy to stimulate in the laboratory, and is a complex movement that requires rapid coordination of several pairs of antagonistic muscles. The research uses a multidisciplinary approach combining biomechanics and neurobiology to determine how the design of the musculoskeletal system interacts with muscle activity to produce movement. Comparisons within and between species that differ in size will show how muscle activity and movement patterns are related to body size among animals of similar shape. The morphology of the feeding apparatus, the movements associated with feeding behavior, and the pattern of muscle activation will be analyzed simultaneously. These studies will provide insight into how muscle activation strategies change with body size. A second approach will compare musculoskeletal design, muscle activity, movement patterns and feeding performance among species that differ in shape. This will show how musculoskeletal design and muscle activity patterns have evolved to produce particular movement patterns and performance characteristics like speed, accuracy, and efficiency. The results of this research will have broad implications for understanding the neural control of movement and its evolution.