On the Nature of Human Interlimb Coordination

Movement time varies as a function of amplitude and requirements for precision, according to Fitts' law, but when subjects perform two-handed movements to targets of widely disparate difficulty they do so simultaneously. The hand moving to an "easy" target moves more slowly to accommo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inScience (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 203; no. 4384; pp. 1029 - 1031
Main Authors J. A. Scott Kelso, Southard, Dan L., Goodman, David
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Association for the Advancement of Science 09.03.1979
Subjects
Academic learning
Adult
Brain - physiology
Experimentation
Fingers
Functional Laterality
Hand - physiology
Humans
Kinematics
Locomotion
Motor Skills - physiology
Movement
Simultaneity
Velocity
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Summary:Movement time varies as a function of amplitude and requirements for precision, according to Fitts' law, but when subjects perform two-handed movements to targets of widely disparate difficulty they do so simultaneously. The hand moving to an "easy" target moves more slowly to accommodate its "difficult" counterpart, yet both hands reach peak velocity and acceleration synchronously. This result suggests that the brain produces simultaneity of action not by controlling each limb independently, but by organizing functional groupings of muscles that are constrained to act as a single unit.
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SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.424729