Prehension with trunk assisted reaching.

For prehensile tasks, where objects are located beyond the normal reaching space, the trunk is bent forward to assist in the transport of the wrist to the object. Such task behaviors raise complex motor control issues such as how is the trunk movement incorporated into the motor plan. In this experiment, seated subjects were asked to reach and grasp a small and a large object placed on a table located beyond their maximal reach. Forward trunk bending was required to extend the reach distance. For such reaching movements, the wrist velocity consisted of a bell shape profile similar to those seen when the arm is the sole transport agent. In most trials, the trunk was the first to initiate movement, although there was no strict pattern of initiation order. The transport data showed that trunk and arm movement components were decoupled at the end of the reach. While the object was being grasped and lifted, the trunk continued moving for approximately 180 ms after the grasp. Wrist deceleration time expressed in absolute and relative values was sensitive to object size. The time from maximum peak aperture to the end of wrist movement also was significantly longer for grasping the small compared to the large object. No such relationships were observed for the trunk. Temporal coupling was only observed between the grip and wrist transport component. Time to maximum aperture was significantly correlated with time to peak wrist deceleration and only rarely with time to trunk deceleration peak. When the trunk participates in the transport of the wrist to an object, these findings suggest that only the wrist component is directly related to the achievement of the grasp. While the trunk assisted the arm to reach the object, the kinematic parameter recorded did not reveal any evidence of direct coupling. The presented data suggests that the planning takes place at the level of the hand and that endpoint is the primary variable controlled.