Interlimb coordination from a psychological perspective

Abstract

During coordination of the movement of two limbs, the movements often interfere with each other, i.e., interlimb coordination is constrained. Many movement-related parameters such as movement direction, movement frequency, the coupling of limbs, neural network among limbs, and muscle homology are considered constraints of interlimb coordination, and they are roughly consolidated into two constraints, a neuromuscular constraint, and a perceptual-cognitive constraint. Interlimb coordination is considered to be governed by a coalition of neuromuscular and perceptual-cognitive constraints. On the other hand, spontaneous interlimb coordination is considered purely perceptual in nature. In this review, we focused on an influential study on interlimb coordination published in Nature by Mechsner et al. (2001), which supported the latter psychological approach. Thorough verification of the paper with reference to related studies revealed that no studies have yet proposed decisive contrary evidence against the psychological approach. Rather, investigation of interlimb coordination with perceptual-cognitive perspective has uncovered new findings. As a next psychological approach, the proposal of a unified and predictive explanation for movements is required. In addition, neural mechanisms that connect perceptual-cognitive representation to an appropriate motor command, if any, should be addressed.

Keywords

• interlimb coordination
• psychology
• sparse coding
• salience