Joint Action–Motor Control

The primary aim of the group is to develop a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying joint action and motor control.

Originally the research focused on intraindividual processes of reaching, grasping, drawing and handwriting tasks but since a decade the attention of the group has turned to ingredients of human-human interactions such as joint perception, shared decision making, and collaborative motor performance.

Motion perception, motion planning and movement coordination are typical examples of processes that are highlighted by the group. Key concepts in the explanatory models of the group are posture-based motion planning, multiple-constraint satisfaction, end-state comfort, forward modelling, inverse kinematics, redundancy control, motor resonance, and intention recognition. The models resulting from this group's research are implemented in robotics. Further applications concern studies on diagnosis and prevention of Repetitive Strain Injury involving analyses of variability, felxibility and stability, and ‘bad habits' in patients who, after lower-limb injuries, are recovering from their traumas with the support of physical therapists.

Links

• Website prof. Ruud Meulenbroek