Artificial gravity reveals that economy of action determines the stability of sensorimotor coordination

Richard G Carson; Yalchin Oytam; Stephan Riek

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005248

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Artificial gravity reveals that economy of action determines the stability of sensorimotor coordination

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Artificial gravity reveals that economy of action determines the stability of sensorimotor coordination

Richard G Carson, Yalchin Oytam and Stephan Riek

PLoS One, Vol.4(4), pp.1-6

2009

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0005248

PMCID: PMC2664928

PMID: 19365561

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Abstract

Music

Models, Theoretical

Motor Activity - physiology

Humans

Male

Orientation - physiology

Hand

Psychomotor Performance - physiology

Robotics

Young Adult

Gravity, Altered

Adult

Female

Arm

When we move along in time with a piece of music, we synchronise the downward phase of our gesture with the beat. While it is easy to demonstrate this tendency, there is considerable debate as to its neural origins. It may have a structural basis, whereby the gravitational field acts as an orientation reference that biases the formulation of motor commands. Alternatively, it may be functional, and related to the economy with which motion assisted by gravity can be generated by the motor system. We used a robotic system to generate a mathematical model of the gravitational forces acting upon the hand, and then to reverse the effect of gravity, and invert the weight of the limb. In these circumstances, patterns of coordination in which the upward phase of rhythmic hand movements coincided with the beat of a metronome were more stable than those in which downward movements were made on the beat. When a normal gravitational force was present, movements made down-on-the-beat were more stable than those made up-on-the-beat. The ubiquitous tendency to make a downward movement on a musical beat arises not from the perception of gravity, but as a result of the economy of action that derives from its exploitation.

Details

Title: Artificial gravity reveals that economy of action determines the stability of sensorimotor coordination
Authors: Richard G Carson (Author) - Queen's University Belfast
Yalchin Oytam (Author) - The University of Queensland
Stephan Riek (Author) - The University of Queensland
Publication details: PLoS One, Vol.4(4), pp.1-6
Publisher: Public Library of Science
Date published: 2009
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0005248
ISSN: 1932-6203
PMID: 19365561; PMC2664928
Copyright note: Copyright: © 2009 Carson et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Organisation Unit: Graduate Research School; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99472603002621
Output Type: Journal article

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