Recruitment of Degrees of Freedom Stabilizes Coordination

• Published in: Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance 2000-04, Vol.26 (2), p.671-692
• Main Authors: Fink, Philip W, Kelso, J. A. Scott, Jirsa, Viktor K, Guzman, Gonzalo de
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activity levels. Psychomotricity; Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Depth Perception; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human; Humans; Male; Motion Perception; Motor ability; Motor Coordination; Orientation; Perceptions; Perceptual Motor Processes; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychomotor activities; Psychomotor Performance; Psychophysics; Spatial Perception; Visual Stimulation; Visual Tracking
• ISSN: 0096-1523; 1939-1277
• DOI: 10.1037/0096-1523.26.2.671

By showing that transitions may be obviated by recruiting degrees of freedom in the coupled pendulum paradigm, the authors reveal a novel mechanism for coordinative flexibility. In Experiment 1, participants swung pairs of unconstrained pendulums in 2 planes of motion (sagittal and frontal) at 8 movement frequencies starting from either an in-phase or antiphase mode. Few transitions were observed. Measures of spatial trajectory showed recruitment effects tied to the stability of the initial coordinative pattern. When the motion of the pendulums was physically restricted to a single plane in Experiment 2, transitions were more common, indicating that recruitment delays-or even eliminates-transitions. Such recruitment complements transitions as a source of coordinative flexibility and is incorporated in a simple extension of the Haken-Kelso-Bunz (1985) model.