Behavioral Principles of Interlimb Coordination

Interference in interlimb coordination is informative with respect to the underlying mechanisms of coordination. A rather comprehensive functional model of bimanual interlimb coordination, in which it is assumed that interference between the limbs may emerge at different levels of motor control, i.e. motor programming and movement execution, was proposed by Spijkers and Heuer (1995). Central to this model is the hypothesis of transient crosstalk during programming of movement parameters in bimanual coordination tasks. A series of experiments is presented, providing support for the model. These studies are based on three prototypical movement tasks in which several movement variables were examined, such as movement amplitude, isometric force and movement direction. It is concluded that the distinction between an execution level and a programming level may not be sufficient to capture all phenomena of intermanual interactions and, therefore, a third “cognitive” level is needed.