Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Oscillations about an Equilibrium Position

Oscillations about an Equilibrium Position

Stability is an important concept in oscillation. If an equilibrium point is stable, a slight disturbance of an object that is initially at the stable equilibrium point will cause the object to oscillate around that point. For an unstable equilibrium point, if the object is disturbed slightly, it will not return to the equilibrium point. There are three conditions for equilibrium points—stable, unstable, and half-stable. A half-stable equilibrium point is also unstable, but is named so because...

Forced Oscillations

Forced Oscillations

When an oscillator is forced with a periodic driving force, the motion may seem chaotic. The motions of such oscillators are known as transients. After the transients die out, the oscillator reaches a steady state, where the motion is periodic, and the displacement is determined.

Damped Oscillations

Damped Oscillations

In the real world, oscillations seldom follow true simple harmonic motion. A system that continues its motion indefinitely without losing its amplitude is termed undamped. However, friction of some sort usually dampens the motion, so it fades away or needs more force to continue. For example, a guitar string stops oscillating a few seconds after being plucked. Similarly, one must continually push a swing to keep a child swinging on a playground.
Although friction and other non-conservative...

Observational Learning

Observational Learning

Albert Bandura's observational learning, also known as imitation or modeling, occurs when a person observes and imitates another's behavior. It is a quicker process than operant conditioning. A well-known example is the Bobo doll study, where children who saw an adult acting aggressively towards the doll were more likely to act aggressively when left alone, compared to those who observed a nonaggressive adult. Many psychologists view observational learning as a form of latent learning because...

Muscle Stimulation Frequency

Muscle Stimulation Frequency

The contraction strength of muscles is regulated by motor neurons, which modulate the frequency of action potentials dispatched to the motor units based on the body's requirements. This process of varying the muscle stimulation frequency allows muscles to contract with a force that is precisely tailored to the needs of the moment, whether lifting a feather or a heavy box.
Wave summation
At low firing rates, motor neurons induce individual twitch contractions in muscle fibers. These twitches...

Simple Harmonic Motion

Simple Harmonic Motion

Simple harmonic motion is the name given to oscillatory motion for a system where the net force can be described by Hooke's law. If the net force can be described by Hooke's law and there is no damping (by friction or other non-conservative forces), then a simple harmonic oscillator will oscillate with equal displacement on either side of the equilibrium position. To derive an equation for period and frequency, the equation of motion is used. The period of a simple harmonic oscillator is given...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Steroid anabolic and catabolic hormones in highly and recreationally trained female athletes across the menstrual cycle.

Physiological reports·2025

Same author

Restoring the complexity of walking in the elderly and its impact on clinical measures around the risk of falls.

Frontiers in network physiology·2025

Same author

Hormonal and metabolic responses across phases of combined oral contraceptive use and menstrual cycle in young elite female athletes.

European journal of applied physiology·2025

Same author

Impact of Menstrual Cycle and Oral Contraceptives on Haematological and Inflammatory Biomarkers in Highly Trained Female Athletes.

Drug testing and analysis·2025

Same author

Correlation between serum and saliva sex hormones in young female athletes.

The Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness·2024

Same author

How does prolonged tennis playing affect lower limb muscles' activity during first and second tennis serves?

European journal of sport science·2024

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 17, 2026

An Open-Source Virtual Reality System for the Measurement of Spatial Learning in Head-Restrained Mice

An Open-Source Virtual Reality System for the Measurement of Spatial Learning in Head-Restrained Mice

Published on: March 3, 2023

The evolution of oscillatory behavior during learning on a ski simulator.

Caroline Teulier¹, Déborah Nourrit, Didier Delignières

¹Faculty of Sport Sciences and Physical Education, University of Montpellier, France.

Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport

|January 25, 2007

Summary

Beginner skiers on a simulator initially use Rayleigh damping, then shift to van der Pol damping. This suggests expert motor skills can develop early in practice, even with moderate task difficulty.

More Related Videos

Video-oculography in Mice

Video-oculography in Mice

Published on: July 19, 2012

Oscillation and Reaction Board Techniques for Estimating Inertial Properties of a Below-knee Prosthesis

Oscillation and Reaction Board Techniques for Estimating Inertial Properties of a Below-knee Prosthesis

Published on: May 8, 2014

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 17, 2026

An Open-Source Virtual Reality System for the Measurement of Spatial Learning in Head-Restrained Mice

An Open-Source Virtual Reality System for the Measurement of Spatial Learning in Head-Restrained Mice

Published on: March 3, 2023

Video-oculography in Mice

Video-oculography in Mice

Published on: July 19, 2012

Oscillation and Reaction Board Techniques for Estimating Inertial Properties of a Below-knee Prosthesis

Oscillation and Reaction Board Techniques for Estimating Inertial Properties of a Below-knee Prosthesis

Published on: May 8, 2014

Area of Science:

Motor Learning
Biomechanics
Dynamical Systems Theory

Background:

Previous ski simulator experiments yielded ambiguous results regarding novice behavior and learning dynamics.
Unanswered questions persist about the nature of novice motor control and skill acquisition during practice.

Purpose of the Study:

To analyze the evolving motor behavior of three novice skiers over six practice sessions on a ski simulator.
To construct dynamical models, including stiffness and damping functions, from recorded platform position time series data.

Main Methods:

Recorded the time series data of the ski simulator apparatus platform's position.
Constructed dynamical models, specifically analyzing stiffness and damping functions, to characterize movement patterns.
Observed and analyzed the behavioral transitions of three novice participants across six practice sessions.

Main Results:

Novice skiers initially exhibited Rayleigh damping behavior in their early practice trials.
A transition to van der Pol damping behavior was observed as practice progressed.
These findings replicate and extend previous research on motor skill acquisition in skiing.

Conclusions:

The transition from Rayleigh to van der Pol damping suggests early development of expert-like behavior.
Skill acquisition in complex motor tasks, like skiing, may occur earlier than previously thought, particularly at moderate difficulty.
The study proposes a conceptual framework for understanding the dynamics of acquiring complex motor skills.