Sensorimotor Control of Human Jaw Movement

这项建议描述了以下颌为重点的控制人类口面部运动的研究。其目标是了解神经信号与口面部生物力学相互作用的方式，以确定语音中的运动结果。所有拟议的研究都与了解运动的神经和生物力学决定因素之间的关系这一共同目标有关。这些研究从颌骨的生物力学特性及其与语音变异性的关系扩展到控制信号对机械设备的动力学进行补偿的程度。在整个过程中采用了一个共同的程序-使用伺服控制的机器人机械手来向下巴提供精确的机械扰动。这项研究将(1)记录颌骨的生物力学特性，特别是在元音产生过程中，颌骨静态刚度和运动学可变性之间的关系。(2)这项工作将表征运动中的颌骨僵硬，评估僵硬对运动速度的依赖，评估语音中的僵硬与咀嚼的僵硬，并确定运动过程中的僵硬与运动变异性的时间变化模式之间的关系。(3)这些研究还将评估神经系统编码的信息的复杂性，这些信息涉及口腔面部运动规划中的生物力学外围和外部负荷。

This proposal describes studies of the control of human orofacial movement that focus on the jaw. The goal is to understand the ways in which neural signals interact with orofacial biomechanics to determine movement outcomes in speech. All of the proposed research is related by the common aim of understanding the relationship between neural and biomechanical determinants of movements. The studies extend from the jaw's biomechanical properties and their relation to speech variability to the degree to which control signals compensate for the dynamics of the mechanical apparatus. A common procedure is adopted throughout - the use of a servo-controlled robotic manipulator to deliver precise mechanical perturbations to the jaw. The research will (1) document the jaw's biomechanical properties and in particular the relationship between jaw stiffness in statics and kinematic variability during vowel production. (2) The work will characterize jaw stiffness during movement and assess the dependence of stiffness on movement speed, evaluate stiffness in speech versus mastication, and determine the relationship between stiffness over the course of movement and time-varying patterns of kinematic variability. (3) The studies will also assess the complexity of the information that the nervous system encodes concerning the biomechanical periphery and external loads in orofacial motion planning.