Publication Date:
1979-03-09
Description:
Movement time varies as a function of amplitude and requirements for precision, according to Fitts' law, but when subjects perform two-handed movements to targets of widely disparate difficulty they do so simultaneously. The hand moving to an "easy" target moves more slowly to accommodate its "difficult" counterpart, yet both hands reach peak velocity and acceleration synchronously. This result suggests that the brain produces simultaneity of action not by controlling each limb independently, but by organizing functional groupings of muscles that are constrained to act as a single unit.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Kelso, J A -- Southard, D L -- Goodman, D -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1979 Mar 9;203(4384):1029-31.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/424729" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Adult
;
Brain/physiology
;
Functional Laterality
;
Hand/physiology
;
Humans
;
Motor Skills/*physiology
;
*Movement
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
