Optimization of Muscle Activity for Task-Level Goals Predicts Complex Changes in Limb Forces across Biomechanical Contexts
Figure 1
Schematic of variations in muscle activity and limb forces with altered stance distance during balance tasks in cats hypothesized to arise from neuromechanical interactions.
Top to bottom: sagittal-plane kinematics, left hindlimb ground reaction forces, left hindlimb muscle tuning curves. As stance distance between the fore- and hind-limbs is decreased from left to right (top row), a wider range of ground reaction force directions is observed (middle row), as well as increased muscle activation; however, muscle tuning to perturbation direction is conserved (bottom row).