Human motor adaptation in whole body motion

Area of Science:

• Biomechanics
• Neuroscience
• Human Motor Control

Background:

• The sensorimotor system's primary role is species survival, necessitating an ecological fitness perspective for motor control.
• Understanding adaptation and optimality in motor control requires examining the sensorimotor system's response to potential harm.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how the human sensorimotor system adapts to movements involving injury risk.
• To analyze motor control strategies under perturbation and their implications for optimality.

Main Methods:

• An experimental paradigm was developed to expose the sensorimotor system to injury risk.
• Human subjects performed unconstrained squat-to-stand movements subjected to systematic, non-trivial perturbations.

Main Results:

• Subjects actively compensated for perturbations, adopting movements distinct from their normal patterns.
• Adapted movements exhibited significant inter-subject variability, attributable to diverse adaptation strategies.

Conclusions:

• Safety emerges as the paramount factor in a hierarchical model of motor control optimality.
• Analysis of human movement must incorporate injury risk and neural costs alongside energy and task fulfillment.