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

@article{citeulike:4457307, abstract = {BACKGROUND: 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. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: 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. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: 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.}, author = {Carson, R. G. and Oytam, Y. and Riek, S.}, citeulike-article-id = {4457307}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0005248}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19365561}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=19365561}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0005248}, issn = {1932-6203}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, keywords = {action, artificial, coordination, economy, gravity, sensorimotor, stability}, number = {4}, posted-at = {2009-05-04 10:02:34}, priority = {2}, title = {Artificial gravity reveals that economy of action determines the stability of sensorimotor coordination.}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0005248}, volume = {4}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:4457307 L3 - citeulike-article-id:4457307 N2 - BACKGROUND: 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. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: 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. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: 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. IS - 4 JF - PLoS ONE SN - 1932-6203 TI - Artificial gravity reveals that economy of action determines the stability of sensorimotor coordination. VL - 4 KW - action KW - artificial KW - coordination KW - economy KW - gravity KW - sensorimotor KW - stability AU - Carson, RG AU - Oytam, Y AU - Riek, S PY - 2009/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0005248 ER -