Coupling of postural and manual tasks in expert performers.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the integration of bimanual rhythmic movements and posture in expert marching percussionists. Participants (N=11) performed three rhythmic manual tasks [1:1, 2:3, and 2:3-F (2:3 rhythm played faster at a self-selected tempo)] in one of three postures: sitting, standing on one foot, and standing on two feet. Discrete relative phase, postural time-to-contact, and coherence analysis were used to analyze the performance of the manual task, postural control, and the integration between postural and manual performance. Across all three rhythms, discrete relative phase mean and variability results showed no effects of posture on rhythmic performance. The complexity of the manual task (1:1 vs. 2:3) had no effect on postural time-to-contact. However, increasing the tempo of the manual task (2:3 vs. 2:3-F) did result in a decreased postural time-to-contact in the two-footed posture. Coherence analysis revealed that the coupling between the postural and manual task significantly decreased as a function of postural difficulty (going from a two-footed to a one-footed posture) and rhythmic complexity (1:1 vs. 2:3). Taken together, these results demonstrate that expert marching percussionists systematically decouple postural and manual fluctuations in order to preserve the performance of the rhythmic movement task.

[1]  C. R.,et al.  Dynamical Substructure of Coordinated Rhythmic Movements , 2005 .

[2]  Peter J. Beek,et al.  Multifrequency coordination in bimanual tapping: Asymmetrical coupling and signs of supercriticality. , 1995 .

[3]  J. Foley.  The co-ordination and regulation of movements , 1968 .

[4]  R. van Emmerik,et al.  Orienting Under Load: Intrinsic Dynamics and Postural Affordances for Visual Perception , 2012 .

[5]  M. Turvey,et al.  Maintenance tendency in co-ordinated rhythmic movements: Relative fluctuations and phase , 1988, Neuroscience.

[6]  M. Peters,et al.  Coordination of the two hands and effects of attentional manipulation in the production of a bimanual 2:3 polyrhythm , 1989 .

[7]  Andreas Daffertshofer,et al.  Learning to juggle: on the assembly of functional subsystems into a task-specific dynamical organization , 2003, Biological Cybernetics.

[8]  P. Shewokis,et al.  Changes in standing postural control during acquisition of a sequential reaching task. , 2010, Gait & posture.

[9]  D A Rosenbaum,et al.  Production of polyrhythms. , 1993, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[10]  Michael T. Turvey,et al.  The detuning factor in the dynamics of interlimb rhythmic coordination , 1995, Biological Cybernetics.

[11]  Andreas Daffertshofer,et al.  Multiple time scales and subsystem embedding in the learning of juggling. , 2004, Human movement science.

[12]  Karl M. Newell,et al.  Neural basis of postural instability identified by VTC and EEG , 2009, Experimental Brain Research.

[13]  R. van Emmerik,et al.  Stability boundaries and lateral postural control in parkinson's disease. , 2001, Motor control.

[14]  Michael T. Turvey,et al.  Average phase difference theory and 1∶1 phase entrainment in interlimb coordination , 1992, Biological Cybernetics.

[15]  Michael T. Turvey,et al.  Imperfect Symmetry and the Elementary Coordination Law , 2008 .

[16]  Joong Hyun Ryu,et al.  Time-to-contact measures capture modulations in posture based on the precision demands of a manual task. , 2010, Gait & posture.

[17]  Karl M. Newell,et al.  Virtual Time-to-Collision and Human Postural Control. , 1997, Journal of motor behavior.

[18]  G. Caldwell,et al.  Predicting dynamic postural instability using center of mass time-to-contact information. , 2008, Journal of biomechanics.

[19]  Joseph Hamill,et al.  Developmental Changes in Postural Stability During the Performance of a Precision Manual Task , 2013 .

[20]  Joseph Hamill,et al.  Evaluation of time-to-contact measures for assessing postural stability. , 2006, Journal of applied biomechanics.

[21]  P. V. Wieringen,et al.  Coupling strength in tapping a 2:3 polyrhythm , 1995 .

[22]  J. Kelso,et al.  Multifrequency behavioral patterns and the phase attractive circle map , 1991, Biological Cybernetics.

[23]  M. Turvey,et al.  Coupling dynamics in interlimb coordination. , 1993, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[24]  A. Daffertshofer,et al.  Multiple time scales and multiform dynamics in learning to juggle. , 2004, Motor control.

[25]  Michael T. Turvey,et al.  Resonance Constraints on Rhythmic Movement , 1993 .

[26]  A. Goldberger,et al.  Loss of 'complexity' and aging. Potential applications of fractals and chaos theory to senescence. , 1992, JAMA.

[27]  Herbert A. Simon,et al.  The Sciences of the Artificial , 1970 .

[28]  Betty Tuller,et al.  A “Dynamic Pattern” Perspective on the Control and Coordination of Movement , 1983 .

[29]  J. Kelso.  Phase transitions and critical behavior in human bimanual coordination. , 1984, The American journal of physiology.

[30]  T. Stoffregen,et al.  Affordances as constraints on the control of stance , 1988 .

[31]  Benoît G. Bardy,et al.  Postural coordination modes considered as emergent phenomena , 1999 .

[32]  H. Haken,et al.  A theoretical model of phase transitions in human hand movements , 2004, Biological Cybernetics.

[33]  P. N. Kugler,et al.  Information, Natural Law, and the Self-Assembly of Rhythmic Movement , 2015 .