Acquisition of a Motion Analysis Facility for the Study of Primate Locomotion at SUNY, Stony Brook

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With National Science Foundation support, the Primate Locomotion Laboratory at SUNY Stony Brook will acquire instrumentation to supplement and increase their capacity to study primate locomotion. Purchase of a 3D motion analysis system will permit automatic and manual tracking of limb segment coordinates and will allow accurate quantification of 3D displacements, velocities and accelerations of limb segments. These data will then be coordinated with EMG data on muscle recruitment patterns, kinetic data on substrate forces and pressures, and strain data on long bone loading. A pressure plate, also purchased through this grant will permit determination of pressure distribution at hand and foot contacts. The laboratory is one of a few in the US engaged in experimental analysis of functional morphology in primates and has examined the function of muscle and bone conformation across a wide range of anatomical parts of the body and primate species. The group plans to pursue a number of studies including: 1. the kinematics of primate quadrupeds involved in bone strain studies to determine if inter-individual and interlimb variations in strain correlate with limb posture differences: 2. the kinematics of climbing in monkeys and apes to help determine whether climbing adaptations are responsible for any of the unique features which distinguish are and fossil hominid postcranial morphology; 3. the kinematics and kinetics of gibbon and spider monkey brachiation; 4. the kinematics and kinetics of knuckle-walking to understand the distribution of this unique locomotor adaptation in the hominoid tree; The research will serve several functions. It will provide basic insight into the relationship between analytical form and function. It will also provide a powerful data base and point of departure for the analysis of fossil monkey ape and hominid remains. Many researchers from several departments within the university as well as graduate students will benefit from this instrumentation