An experimental note on defining frequency competition in intersegmental coordination dynamics

Synchronous coordination between two body segments departs from phase locking at 0 or pi radians when the segments are asymmetrical. In models of coordination dynamics, this detuning is typically quantified by Deltaomega = (omega1 - omega2), where omega1 and omega2 are the uncoupled frequencies of the two segments. An experiment is reported in which the magnitude of Deltaomega not equal 0 was satisfied by different ratios Omega of omega1 and omega2. The degree of detuning was found to vary systematically with Omega and Deltaomega. This result corroborates previous research using the complementary manipulation of varying Deltaomega for a fixed Omega. A challenge for future dynamical modeling is identifying precisely how the detuning quantity incorporates both the absolute and relative differences in the. uncoupled segmental frequencies.