Research group Adaptive control of posture and movement is essential for meeting the demands of everyday life. To function independently, we must continuously adjust our movements in a flexible and context-dependent manner. The overall goal of our lab is to understand the core neural principles of adaptive sensorimotor function, with a particular focus on the interplay between sensory and motor signals.
Understanding sensorimotor function requires building a better picture of the information available to the nervous system. Human mechanoreceptors and muscle spindles in particular are of interest to our lab. These muscle mechanoreceptors are among the most sophisticated sensory organs in the body, with their own motor innervation, and provide a uniquely rich window into how proprioceptive information is generated and used to guide action.
One important research aim is to determine how proprioceptive signals are shaped by mechanical conditions and descending control, and to reveal the functional advantages afforded by proprioceptive feedback for sensorimotor performance. To address these questions, we combine microneurography (MNG) with complementary behavioral, electrophysiological, and robotic methods, allowing us to record from single mechanoreceptive afferents in awake humans performing controlled motor tasks.
We have recently integrated high-density surface electromyography (HDsEMG) into our experimental platforms. This allows us to relate identified sensory signals to the spatial distribution of muscle activity and to the extracted discharge of individual motor units within the same behavioral context, substantially extending our ability to study sensory-to-motor coupling in intact humans.
A servo-controlled wrist/hand platform is used to investigate proprioceptive signaling during passive mechanical and active contexts, including for the application of controlled perturbations. A bimanual robotic manipulandum platform is able to assess gaze control, proprioceptive acuity and motor control at the level of the whole upper limb.
Selected publications:
Torell F. & Dimitriou M. (2024) Local muscle pressure stimulates the principal receptors for proprioception. Cell Reports, 43, 114699
Dimitriou M. (2022) Human muscle spindles are wired to function as controllable signal-processing devices. eLife, 11, e78091
Papaioannou S. & Dimitriou M. (2021) Goal-dependent tuning of muscle spindle receptors during movement preparation. Science Advances, 7, eabe0401
Dimitriou M. (2016) Enhanced muscle afferent signals during motor learning in humans. Current Biology, 26, 1062
Dimitriou M. (2014) Human muscle spindle sensitivity reflects the balance of activity between antagonistic muscles. Journal of Neuroscience, 34, 13644
Our body's muscles sense mechanical pressure, is shown in a new study with important implications.
