JNP Micro Podcasts ”Four Questions”: Task-dependent negotiations of bimanual coordination

In this podcast Nick Kitchen and Jisung Yuk of Pennsylvania State University discuss the recently published manuscript “Bilateral arm movements are coordinated via task-dependent negotiations between independent and codependent control, but not by a “coupling” control policy.”

 

NEW & NOTEWORTHY Minimization of performance and control costs and efferent coupling between bilaterally homologous muscle groups have been separately hypothesized to describe patterns of bimanual coordination. Here, we address whether the mechanisms mediating independent and codependent control between limbs can be weighted for successful task performance. Using bilaterally asymmetric visuomotor gain perturbations, we show bimanual coordination can be characterized as a negotiation along a spectrum between extremes of independent and codependent control, but not efferent control coupling.

 

Article Citation:

Bilateral arm movements are coordinated via task-dependent negotiations between independent and codependent control, but not by a “coupling” control policy

Nick M. Kitchen, Jisung Yuk, Andrzej Przybyla, Robert A. Scheidt, and Robert L. Sainburg

Journal of Neurophysiology

 2023 130:3, 497-515