Claims for Effector Independence and Generalized Motor Programs: Evidence from Handwriting

人类的动作，从最简单的指向运动到更多 精心设计的多手势动作，遵循包含在 预先存在的心理计划，通常称为运动计划。 虽然 我们很少意识到这些程序的存在， 目的是给肌肉组织指令， 可以在最小程度上依赖缓慢的、基于反馈的错误- 纠正过程。 虽然在这一点上存在普遍共识， 运动程序的结构还很不清楚。 运动控制理论家推测，运动程序可以 被普遍化。 这个想法，源于一个类比， 计算机编程中的子程序，表明运动程序 在具有被实际替换形式参数的存储器中， 当将要进行移动时，特定于情况的值。 本研究将探讨运动程序的实证现实 以及各种建议的影响 描述如何实现这样的概括。 这些 问题将在手写和 绘画动作。 虽然本研究将探讨运动程序泛化 在几个运动参数上，例如，移动速度或大小， 将特别强调一种特殊形式电机- 程序泛化称为效应器独立性。 该术语 描述了单个电机程序驱动任何 几个效应器系统来产生与之相关的运动 程序. 效应器独立性被认为是经验性的 支持从几个非正式的比较形状的话 只用手腕和手指书写， 用整个手臂写的，如在黑板上。 在这一背景下， 不同的效应器系统可以包括右手、左手 手，整个右臂，甚至一只脚。 正是这种多样性 所涉及的运动系统，其不同的关节 结构、肌肉系统和神经支配的类型， 这使得效应器独立性的主张如此诱人。 这项研究将沿着沿着两条路线进行。 第一个将 检查，对于以前学习的动作， 运动的形状、时间、力量和速度， 操纵实验情境的许多方面。 在第二条研究路线中，人们将学习新颖的动作， 在一组条件下，他们的能力， 学习新的条件将被研究。 对运动程序结构和功能的认识 从这项研究中获得的将有潜在的应用， 需要协调运动的技能训练，诊断 运动障碍的治疗，以及计划和 机器人系统中的运动表示。

Human movements, from the simplest pointing movement to more elaborate multi-gesture movements, follow directions contained in pre-existing mental plans, often called motor programs. Although we are seldom aware of the existence of such programs, their purpose is to structure commands to the muscles so that movements can be made with minimal reliance on slow, feedback-based, error- correcting processes. While there is general agreement on this point, the structure of motor programs is far from clear. Motor control theorists have speculated that motor programs can be generalized. This idea, which stems from an analogy to subprograms in computer programming, suggests that motor programs in memory have formal parameters that are replaced with actual, situation-specific values when a movement is about to be made. This research will explore the empirical reality of motor-program generalization as well as the implications of various proposals describing how such generalizations might be implemented. These issues will be addressed in the domains of handwriting and drawing movements. While this research will investigate motor program generalization across several movement parameters, e.g., movement speed or size, special emphasis will be given to a particular form of motor- program generalization known as effector independence. This term describes the ability of a single motor program to drive any of several effector systems to produce movement associated with that program. Effector independence is claimed to draw empirical support from several informal comparisons of the shapes of words written using only the wrist and fingers versus those same words written with the whole arm, as on a chalkboard. In this context, different effector systems might include the right hand, the left hand, the whole right arm, or even a foot. It is this diversity of the movement systems involved, with their different joint configurations, muscle systems, and types of nerve innervation, that makes the claim of effector independence so tantalizing. This research will proceed along two lines. The first will examine, for previously learned movements, the disruptive effects on the movement's shape, timing, force, and velocity caused by manipulating a number of aspects of the experimental situation. In the second line of research, people will learn novel movements under one set of conditions, and their ability to transfer that learning to new conditions will be studied. The insights about the structure and function of motor programs gained from this research will have potential application to the training of skills requiring coordinated movement, the diagnosis and treatment of movement disorders, and the planning and representation of movements in robotic systems.