Vibrotactile movement initiation

We investigated how to use vibrotactile stimuli to initiate limb movements, in particular wrist rotations. We compared stimulation of the to be activated muscle with specification of the direction to which that particular part of the body had to be moved (i.e., the use of an intrinsic or an extrinsic reference frame for motor control). Fifteen participants took part in an experiment in which five stimulus locations on the arm were compared on reaction times for left and right wrist rotations. We concluded that an extrinsic reference frame should be used for specifying wrist rotations using vibrotactile stimuli: The vibrotactile stimulus should be presented at the side of the hand that corresponds with the direction where the hand should move to.