Coordination Dynamics

这项研究将考察人类在简单(例如，两条腿以一个节奏移动)、中等复杂(例如，一条腿以另一条腿的两倍的频率移动)和非常复杂的(例如，7球杂耍)活动中表现出的两条肢体之间的节奏协调。它的目标有两个，(1)确定支配肢体间有节奏协调的稳定性和变异性的一般(动态)原则，(2)了解这些原则如何应用于相对于物体和其他环境影响协调肢体。四个班的实验将使用两个任务，摆动手持摆和级联杂耍。这些实验将操纵肢体之间的相位关系(例如，在相同或相反的方向上移动)，协调时它们一起振荡的频率，以及它们在不协调时倾向于振荡的频率。约束节律模式的环境信息的时空特征也会有所不同。计算机化的运动记录器将分析三维运动模式，并将使用非线性动力学的理论和方法来解决这些问题。正在研究的肢体间有节奏的协调模式在许多日常活动中都是常见的和基本的，看起来像走路一样不起眼，像演奏乐器一样熟练。基本协调模式的行为简单性是欺骗性的；它的理解要求我们利用物理学某一分支的最新进展来识别合法的规则，在这些规则中，对运动的认知(心理)限制可以被非任意地定义。这种所谓的动态视角承诺了对大脑必须做什么进行建模的一组更丰富的约束，以便总体上能够执行协调的有节奏的运动，特别是运动。它还应该为运动障碍的原因提供新的假说，以及设计假肢和机械臂的想法。

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.