Motor Control: Creating a Natural Science of Biological Movement

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Mark L. Latash
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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1123/kr.2021-0011
Keywords:
laws of nature; abundance; referent coordinate; uncontrolled manifold; synergy
First Published Online:
30 Jun 2021
In Print:
Volume 10: Issue 3
Page Range:
257–263
Restricted access

Motor control is a young and aspiring field of natural science. Over the past 40 years, it has become an established field of study with several important theoretical developments, including the equilibrium-point hypothesis and its more recent version known as the control with referent spatial coordinates, the principle of abundance, the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis, and the concept of dynamic neural field as the means of task formulation. Important experimental advances have included the exploration of the notion of synergies, the links between descending signals from the brain and referent coordinates of the effectors, and applications of motor control principles to analysis of disordered movements. Further maturation of motor control requires focusing on theory-driven studies. It promises fruitful applications to applied fields such as movement disorders and rehabilitation.

The author (mll11@psu.edu) is with the Dept. of Kinesiology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.

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