Sensory contributions I: Proprioception

KINESIOL 2MC3

Mike Carter, Ph.D.
cartem11@email.com

Department of Kinesiology | McMaster University

September 17 2025

Last class

Review: Attention and performance

  • Understand properties of attention

  • Explain how researchers can assess the attentional demands of a motor skill

  • Describe how attention can limit information-processing activities

  • Explain how attention influences the capability to perform actions

TAKE-HOME MESSAGE:
Many factors influence how attention and arousal impact skilled motor performance.

Lecture objectives

  • Understand the role of sensory feedback in voluntary action

  • Identify and describe types of sensory information important for skilled performance

  • Describe different tests that can be used to investigate the role of kinesthesis/proprioception in motor control

  • Describe how voluntary motor control is impacted by the loss of proprioception

TAKE-HOME MESSAGE:
Sensory feedback is critical for skilled voluntary actions.

Sensory information

Image from Kandel et al. (2021)

Sensory receptors respond to stimulation

Sensory receptors in the human body respond to four basic kinds of energy:

  1. PHOTORECEPTOR: primarily responsive to light

  2. MECHANORECEPTOR: primarily responsive to mechanical energy

    • e.g., vestibular receptors, touch receptors

  3. CHEMORECEPTORS: primarily responsive to certain chemical substances

    • e.g., taste receptors, smell receptors

  4. THERMORECEPTORS: primarily responsive to thermal energy

Classifying sensory receptors

  • EXTEROCEPTORS: respond to mechanical, chemical, thermal, or electromagnetic contact with the external environment
    • e.g., mechanoreceptors in the skin, photoreceptors, etc.
  • INTEROCEPTORS: respond to stimulation produced by physiological processes within the body
    • e.g., thermoreceptors within deep tissues that respond to internal body temperature, mechanoreceptors in arterial walls, etc.
  • PROPRIOCEPTORS: respond to mechanical stimulation associated with
    • the angular position of joints, movement of joints
    • the orientation of body segments
    • tension in ligaments, tendons, and other connective tissues
    • muscle length, and changes in muscle length

Sensation versus perception

  • sensing is what sensory receptors do: transduce stimulus energy into electrical signals
    • sensation usually refers to the conscious feeling associated with sensing
  • perception is about obtaining useful information from sensory stimulation and making it available for
    • decision-making
    • planning and controlling motor actions
    • for communication
    • skill acquisition and refinement
    • etc.

The hand has 4 types of mechanoreceptors

Image from Kandel et al. (2021)

The hand has 4 types of mechanoreceptors

Image from Kandel et al. (2021)

Tactile information is critical for dextrous behaviour

Normal; Full vision

Fingertip anesthesia; Full vision

Left: https://youtu.be/zGIDptsNZMo; Right: https://youtu.be/HH6QD0MgqDQ

Kinesthesis and proprioception

  • afferent signals generated by exteroceptors in response to external stimulation is exteroceptive afference

    • contains information about external objects, substances, and events

  • afferent signals generated by somatosensory mechanoreceptors in response to internal stimulation is proprioceptive afference

  • KINESTHESIS: the perception of body position and movement from proprioceptive afference

  • PROPRIOCEPTION: a general term for perception based on proprioceptive afference that includes the perception of muscular effort and force

Proprioception

  • sensory information from the motor periphery is critical for skilled actions

  • we rely on proprioceptive information from a variety of receptors:

    • muscle spindles
    • golgi tendon organs
    • joint-capsule receptors
    • Ruffini endings

  • muscle spindles and golgi tendon organs are the main ones

Muscle spindles are the principal receptor for proprioception

  • muscle spindles are sensitive to muscle stretch and rate of stretch
  • two types: Ia and II
  • muscle spindle is located within skeletal muscle
  • spindles fire when the muscle is lengthened and stop firing when the muscle is contracted

Image from Kandel et al. (2021)

Muscle spindles are the principal receptor for proprioception

  • receptor potential and firing rates of muscle spindle afferent fibers are proportional to muscle length
  • but these responses can be modulated by higher brain areas
  • this means spindle afferent fibers can encode the amplitude and speed of internally generated voluntary movements as well as passive limb displacement by external forces

Image from Kandel et al. (2021)

Golgi tendon organs are sensitive to muscle force

  • sensory receptors embedded within the musculotendon junction

  • muscle contraction lengthens the GTO causing shortening of Ib afferent and increase in firing

Image from Kandel et al. (2021)

Golgi tendon organs are sensitive to muscle force

  • sensory receptors embedded within the musculotendon junction

  • muscle contraction lengthens the GTO causing shortening of Ib afferent and increase in firing

  • GTO discharge rate is proportional to the force of muscle contraction

  • force will only be applied when muscle fibers are actively developing force

Image from Kandel et al. (2021)

Assessing kinesthetic/proprioceptive acuity

  • MATCHING TASKS: try to match position or movement of a body segment (the target) with something else
    • can be simultaneous or successive
  • DISCRIMINATION TASKS: try to tell the difference between two or more situations
    • e.g., set joint angles for effectors and ask to judge whether one is more flexed/extended
    • can be used to establish a discrimination threshold

Image from Tresilian (2012)

Assessing kinesthetic/proprioceptive acuity

Assessing kinesthetic/proprioceptive acuity

Healthy, age-matched control

Patient that suffered a stroke

Videos from Kinarm (BKIN Technologies). Left: https://vimeo.com/800659690; Right: https://vimeo.com/800659701

How well can healthy people kinesthetically localize a body part?

  • KINESTHETIC LOCALIZATION: is studied using a task where a participant places a body part, usually a finger, in a target position
    • task can be simultaneous or successive
    • people’s ability to perform this task depends on:
      • where the body parts are in space
      • what body parts are involved
      • whether target is achieved passively or actively

Image from Tresilian (2012)

How well can healthy people kinesthetically localize a body part?

Image from Tresilian (2012) based on data from Haggard et al. (2000)

Case studies - Living without proprioception

Ginette Lizotte

Ian Waterman

Case studies - Living without proprioception

Video link: https://youtu.be/kUsSU_MVYd8

Case studies - Living without proprioception

Eyes closed; Hold object

Finger sequence task

Left: https://youtu.be/W3CLCVLq_CU; Right: https://youtu.be/B4Qs5wQTTec

Case studies - Living without proprioception

Pegboard task

Reaching task

Left: https://youtu.be/QK0EryOV6LE; Right: https://youtu.be/Me0cBor6y-o

Case studies - Living without proprioception

Figure from Gordon et al. (1995)

What questions do you have?

Next class: Sensory contributions II

References

Gordon J, Ghilardi MF, Ghez C. Impairments of reaching movements in patients without proprioception. I. Spatial errors. Journal of neurophysiology 73: 347–360, 1995.
Haggard P, Newman C, Blundell J, Andrew H. The perceived position of the hand in space. Perception & Psychophysics 62: 363–377, 2000.
Kandel ER, Koester JD, Mack SH, Siegelbaum SA, editors. Principles of neural science. 6th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2021.
Tresilian J. Sensorimotor control and learning: An introduction to the behavioral neuroscience of action. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012.