Coordination Dynamics

这项研究将研究人类在简单（例如，两条腿以同一速度移动）、中度复杂（例如，一条腿以另一条腿的两倍频率移动）和非常复杂（例如，七球杂耍）活动中表现出的两条腿之间的节奏协调模式。它的目的有两个，(1)确定控制有节奏的肢体间协调的稳定性和可变性的一般（动力学）原则，(2)了解这些原则如何应用于肢体与物体和其他环境影响的协调。四类实验将使用两个任务，摆动手持钟摆和级联杂耍。实验将操纵四肢之间的相位关系（例如，在相同或相反的方向上移动），它们在协调时一起振荡的频率，以及它们在不协调时倾向于振荡的频率。约束节奏模式的环境信息的时空特征也会发生变化。计算机运动记录仪将分析三维运动模式，并使用非线性动力学的理论和方法来解决这些问题。所研究的有节奏的肢体间协调模式的类型对许多日常活动来说都是常见和基本的，就像走路一样看似平淡无奇，就像演奏乐器一样熟练。基本协调模式的行为简单性具有欺骗性；它的理解需要我们利用物理学分支的最新进展来确定运动的认知（心理）约束可以非任意定义的规律。这种所谓的动态视角承诺了一套更丰富的约束条件，以模拟大脑必须做的事情，以便协调有节奏的运动，特别是运动可以执行。它还应该为运动障碍的原因提供新的假设，以及设计假肢和机械肢体的想法。

This research will examine the rhythmic coordination between two limbs in patterns that are exhibited by humans in simple (e.g., two limbs moving at one tempo), moderately complex (e.g., one limb moving at twice the frequency of another), and very complex (e.g., 7-ball juggling) activities. Its objective is twofold, (1) to identify general (dynamical) principles that govern the stability and variability of rhythmic interlimb coordinations, and (2) to understand how these principles apply in coordinating the limbs with respect to objects and other environmental influences. Four classes of experiments will use two tasks, swinging hand-held pendulums and cascade juggling. The experiments will manipulate the phase relation between the limbs (e.g., moving in the same or opposite directions), the frequencies at which they oscillate together when coordinated, and the frequencies at which they tend to oscillate when not coordinated. Spatial and temporal features of the environmental information constraining the rhythmic patterns will also be varied. Computerized motion recorders will analyze movement patterns in three dimensions, and theory and methods of nonlinear dynamics will be used to address them. The types of rhythmic interlimb coordination patterns under study are common and basic to very many everyday activities, as seemingly nondescript as walking and as skilled as playing a musical instrument. The behavioral simplicity of the basic coordination pattern is deceptive; its understanding requires that we use recent advances in a branch of physics to identify lawful regularities within which cognitive (psychological) constraints on movement can be defined nonarbitrarily. This so-called dynamical perspective promises a richer set of constraints on modeling what the brain has to do in order that coordinated rhythmic movements in general and locomotion in particular can be executed. It should also provide new hypotheses about the causes of movement disorders as well as ideas for designing prosthetic and robotic limbs.