Event:

When people move, they organize large, redundant (actually, abundant!) sets of elements (limbs, joints, digits, muscles, motor units, etc.) in a task–specific way. Such organizations, called synergies, ensure movement stability, which is crucial for successful actions given that external forces always vary. Analysis of synergies has been developed, based on the idea of intention-specific stability, within the uncontrolled manifold (UCM) hypothesis. This analysis focuses on patterns of co-variation among elemental variables. On the other hand, synergies are characterized by preferred patterns of sharing the task among elements, which can be viewed as reflections of an optimization principle. We have been studying those using a recently developed method called Analytical Inverse Optimization (ANIO). I will describe a theory incorporating the idea of control with referent body configurations, the UCM hypotheses, and the idea of optimality. Further, I will present results of several recent experimental studies inspired by this line of thinking.