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Fifty Years of Physics of Living Systems

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Progress in Motor Control

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 957))

Abstract

The equilibrium-point hypothesis and its more recent version, the referent configuration hypothesis, represent the physical approach to the neural control of action. This hypothesis can be naturally combined with the idea of hierarchical control of movements and of synergic organization of the abundant systems involved in all actions. Any action starts with defining trajectories of a few referent coordinates for a handful of salient task-specific variables. Further, referent coordinates at hierarchically lower levels emerge down to thresholds of the tonic stretch reflex for the participating muscles. Stability of performance with respect to salient variables is reflected in the structure of inter-trial variance and phenomena of motor equivalence. Three lines of recent research within this framework are reviewed. First, synergic adjustments of the referent coordinate and apparent stiffness have been demonstrated during finger force production supporting the main idea of control with referent coordinates. Second, the notion of unintentional voluntary movements has been introduced reflecting unintentional drifts in referent coordinates. Two types of unintentional movements have been observed with different characteristic times. Third, this framework has been applied to studies of impaired movements in neurological patients. Overall, the physical approach searching for laws of nature underlying biological movement has been highly stimulating and productive.

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank his younger colleagues who played central roles in the reviewed studies, Satyajit Ambike, Ali Falaki, Hang Jin Jo, Daniela Mattos, Florent Paclet, Jaebum Park, Mu Qiao, Sasha Reschechtko, Stanislaw Solnik, Luke Wilhelm, and Tao Zhou. Preparation of this paper was in part supported by a grant R01 NS035032 from the National Institutes of Health, USA.

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  1. Department of Kinesiology, The Pennsylvania State University, Rec. Hall-267, University Park, Pennsylvania, 16802, USA

    Mark L. Latash

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  1. Mark L. Latash
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Correspondence to Mark L. Latash .

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  1. Department of Information Technology and Biorobotics, Faculty of Science, University of Pécs, Pecs, Hungary

    Jozsef Laczko

  2. Department of Kinesiology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Mark L. Latash

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Latash, M.L. (2016). Fifty Years of Physics of Living Systems. In: Laczko, J., Latash, M. (eds) Progress in Motor Control. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 957. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47313-0_5

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