Cybernetic model of psychophysiologic pathways: II. Consciousness of tension and kinesthesia

This paper describes a series of experiments directed toward the following questions: a) do signals from musculotendinous receptors reach consciousness?, and b) does feed-forward information of muscular force and expected extent of voluntary movement exist? To answer these questions, data from voluntary compression of springs and strain-gauge have been analyzed in healthy young subjects. By successive elimination of information from other sources, it was possible to verify that receptors in muscles and tendons to signal movement magnitude and muscular tension to the cerebral cortex, and that this information does reach consciousness. There also exists a feed-forward mechanism signalling parameters of voluntary contraction. However, it is unclear whether peripheral, subcortical or intra-cortical loops are directly involved.