Validation of the proportional duration model was attempted using very fast single joint repetitive horizontal abductive-adductive movements of the stretched upper extremity with minimal cognitive input. Participants drew oscillating horizontal lines during 20 sec. over relatively short distances as quickly as possible without visual feedback. Spatial, temporal, and kinetic parameters were analysed. The amplitude and the time spent accelerating, decelerating, and reversing in both directions of each experimental line were recorded and related to the centre of gravity of the upper extremity. The accelerations of the centre of mass of ihe upper extremity were calculated and used to calculate the forces involved. The ratios of durations were compared and intercorrelated for the two fastest, two average, and two slowest cycles from each participant. Results exhibited significant standard deviations and variability of temporal and kinetic parameters within individual trials. The number of significant coefficients of correlation within individual trials was small despite the controlling influence of the same generalised motor program. The proportional duration model did not hold for our data. Peripheral factors (probably the length tension relationship rule for skeletal muscles and viscosity of muscle) may be important in this type of action.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ArmstrongT. R. (1970) Training for the production of memorized movement patterns. (Technical report No. 26) Ann Arbor, MI: Human Performance Center, Univer. of Michigan.
2.
BeekP. J. (1992) Inadequacies of the proportional duration model: perspectives from the dynamical analysis of juggling. Human Movement Science, 11, 227–237.
3.
BeekP. J.SchmidtR. C.MorrisA. W.SimM. Y.TurveyM. T. (1995) Linear and non-linear stiffness and friction in biological rhythmic movements. Biological Cybernetics, 73, 499–507.
4.
BeekP. J.TurveyM. T. (1992) Temporal patterning in cascade juggling. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 18, 934–947.
5.
BerkinblitM. B.FeldmanA. G.FuksonO. I. (1986) Adaptability of innate motor patterns and motor control mechanisms. The Behaviour and Brain Sciences, 9, 585–638.
6.
BernsteinN. A. (1967) The co-ordination and regulation of movement. Oxford, UK: Pergamon.
7.
BizziE.AccorneroN.ChapleN.HoganN. (1982) Arm trajectory formation in monkeys. Experimental Brain Research, 46, 139–143.
8.
BrilB.BreniereY. (1991) Timing invariances in toddler's gait. In FaggardJ.WolffP. H. (Eds.), The development of timing control and temporal organization in co-ordinated action. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Pp. 37–68.
9.
BruntD.LaffertyM. J.McKeonA.GoodeB.MulhausenC.PolkP. (1991) Invariant characteristics of gait initiation. American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 70, 206–212.
10.
Burgess-LimerickR.NealR. J.AbernethyB. (1992) Against relative timing invariance in human kinetics. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology: A Human Experimental Psychology, 44, 705–722.
11.
CarterM. C.ShapiroD. C. (1981) Control of sequential movements: evidence for generalized motor programs. Journal of Neurophysiology, 52, 787–796.
12.
CraskeB.CraskeJ. D. (1986) Oscillator mechanisms in the human motor system: investigating their properties using the after contraction effect. Journal of Motor Behavior, 117, 117–145.
13.
DelcomynF. (1980) Neural basis of rhythmical behaviour in animals. Science, 210, 492–498.
14.
EnokaR. M. (1994) Neuromechanical basis of kinesiology. Windsor, ON: Human Kinetics.
15.
FentressJ. C. (1976) Dynamic boundaries of patterned behaviour interactions and self-organisation. In BatesonP. P. G.HindelR. A. (Eds.), Growing points in ethology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univer. Press. Pp. 135–170.
16.
ForssbergR.GrillnerS.HalbertsmaJ. (1980) The locomotion of the spinal cat: co-ordination within a hindlimb. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, 108, 269–281.
17.
FrankI. M.StanlevM. L. (1991) Learning the invariants of a perceptual motor skill. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 45, 303–320.
18.
FreemanF. N. (1914) Experimental analysis of the writing movement. Psychological Review, 17, 1–46.
19.
GentnerD. R. (1987) Timing of skilled motor performance: test of the proportional duration model. Psychological Review, 94, 255–276.
20.
GhezC. (1991) The control of movement. In KandelE. R.SchwartzJ. H.JesselT. M. (Eds.), Principles of neural science. (3rd ed.) London: Prentice Hall International. Pp. 533–563.
21.
GielenS. C. A. M.van den OostenK.Pull ter GunneF. (1985) Relation between EMG activated patterns and kinematic properties of aimed arm movements. Journal of Motor Behavior, 17, 421–422.
22.
GleikJ. (1987) Chaos. Making a new science. New York: Viking Penguin.
23.
HallS. J. (1999) Basic biomechanics. (3rd ed.) New York: WCB McGraw-Hill.
24.
HeuerH. (1991) Invariant relative timing in motor program theory. In FagardJ.WolffP. H. (Eds.), The development of timing control and temporal organization in co-ordinated action. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Pp. 37–68.
25.
HeuerH.SchmidtR. A.GhodsianD. (1995) Generalised motor programs for rapid bimanual tasks: a two-level multiplicative-rate model. Biological Cybernetics, 73, 343–356.
26.
HillA. V. (1970) First and last experience in muscle mechanics. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Univer. Press.
27.
HollerbachJ. M. (1981) An oscillation theory of handwriting. Biological Cybernetics, 39, 139–156.
28.
HollerbachJ. M.FlashT. (1982) Dynamic interactions between Limb segments during planar arm movement. Biological Cybernetics, 44, 67–77.
29.
JaricS.GotliebG. L.LatashM. L.CorcosD. M. (1998) Changes in the symmetry of the rapid movements: effect of velocity-viscosity. Experimental Brain Research, 120, 52–60.
30.
KeeleS. W. (1986) Motor control. In BoffJ. K.KaufmanL.ThomasP. (Eds.), Handbook of human perception and performance. Vol. II. New York: Wiley. Pp. 1–60.
31.
KuglerP. M.TurveyM. T. (1986) Information, natural law, and the self-assembly of rhythmic movement. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
32.
LashleyK. S. (1951) The problem of serial order in behavior. In JeffressL. A. (Ed.), Cerebral mechanisms in behavior. New York: Wiley. Pp. 112–136.
33.
LatashM. L. (1993) Control of human movement. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
34.
LatashM. L.GutmanS. R. (1993) Variability of fast single-joint movements and the equilibrium-point hypothesis. In NewellK. M.CorcosD. M. (Eds.), Variability and motor control. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Pp. 157–182.
35.
LeonardC. T. (1998) Neuroscience of human movement. St. Louis, MO: Mosby.
36.
LuttgensK.HamiltonN. (1997) Kinesiology: scientific basis of human motion. Boston, MA: WCB, McGraw-Hill.
37.
MagillR. A. (1998) Motor learning (concepts and applications). (5th ed.) (International ed.) Singapore: McGraw Hill.
38.
MartiniF. H.TimmonsM. J. (1997) Human anatomy. (2nd ed.) London: Prentice-Hall International.
39.
MaxL.CarusoA. J. (1997) Acoustic measures of temporal intervals across speaking rates: variability of syllable- and phrase-level relative timing. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research: JSLHR, 40, 1097–1110.
40.
MunhallK. G. (1985) An examination of intra-articulator relative tuning. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 78, 1548–1553.
41.
OldfordR. C. (1971) The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh inventory. Neurophysiology, 9, 97–113.
42.
ParkerH. (1992) Children's motor rhythm and timing. In SummersJ. J. (Ed.), Approaches to the study of motor control and coordination. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science. Pp. 63–194.
43.
PetersM. (1980) Why the preferred hand taps more quickly than the non-preferred hand: three experiments in handedness. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 34, 62–71.
44.
PohlP. C.WinsteinC. G. (1998) Age related effect on temporal strategies to speed motor performance. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, 6, 45–61.
45.
RaibertM. H. (1977) Motor control and learning by the state space model. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, MIT, Cambridge, MA.
46.
ReppB. H. (1997) The effect of tempo on pedal timing in piano performance. Psychological Research, 60, 164–172.
47.
RossignolS.BarbeauH.JulienC. (1984) Locomotion of the adult chronic spinal cat and its modification by monoaminergic agonists and antagonists. In GoldbergerM. E.GorioA.MurrayM. (Eds.), Development and plasticity of the mammalian spinal cord. New York: Fidia Research Series. Pp. 323–345.
48.
SchmidtR. A. (1988) Motor control and learning: a behavioral emphasis. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
49.
SchmidtR. A.HeuerH.GhodsianD.YoungD. E. (1998) Generalized motor program and units of action in bimanual coordination. In LatashM. L. (Ed.), Progress in motor control. Vol. 1. Bernstein's traditions in movement studies. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Pp. 89–104.
50.
SchmidtR. A.LeeT. D. (1999) Motor control and learning: a behavioral emphasis. (3rd ed.) Champaign, TL: Human Kinetics.
51.
SchmidtR. A.SherwoodD. E.WalterC. B. (1988) Rapid movements with reversals in direction: I. The control of movement time. Experimental Brain Research, 69, 344–354.
52.
SchneiderD. M.SchmidtR. A. (1995) Units of action in motor control: role of response complexity and target speed. Human Performance, 8, 27–49.
53.
ShapiroD. C. R. F.ZernickeR. F.GregorR. J.DiestelJ. D. (1981) Evidence for generalised motor programs using gait pattern analysis. Journal of Motor Behavior, 13, 33–47.
54.
ShenL.PoppeleR. E. (1995) Kinematic analysis of cat hindlimb stepping. Journal of Neurophysiology, 74, 2266–2280.
SmollF. L. (1974) Assessments of spatial and temporal elements of rhythmic ability. In WadeM.MartensR. (Eds.), Psychology of motor behavior and sport. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Pp. 314–320.
57.
StaffordF. S.BarnwellG. M. (1985) Mathematical models of central pattern generators in locomotion: single limb models of locomotion in the cat. Journal of Motor Behavior, 13, 33–47.
58.
TerzuoloC. A.VivianiP. (1980) Determinants and characteristics of motor patterns used for typing. Neuroscience, 5, 1085–1103.
59.
ThelenE. (1979) Rhythmical stereotypes in normal human infants. Animal Behaviour, 27, 699–715.
60.
TurveyM. T.RozenblumL. D.KuglerP. N.SchmidtR. C. (1986) Fluctuation and phase symmetry in co-ordinated rhythmic movements. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 12, 564–583.
van GalenG. P. (1991) Handwriting: issues for psychomotor theory. Human Movement Science, 10, 165–191.
63.
VivianiP.LaissardG. (1991) Timing control in motor sequences. In FaggardJ.WolffP. H. (Eds.), The development of timing control and temporal organization in coordinated action. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science-North Holland. Pp. 1–35.
64.
VivianiP.TerzuoloC. A. (1980) Space-time invariance in learning motor skills. In StelmachG. E.RequinJ. (Eds.), Tutorial in motor behaviour. Amsterdam: North Holland. Pp. 525–533.
65.
VivianiP.TerzuoloC. A. (1982) On the relation between world specific patterns and the central control model of typing: a reply to Gentner. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 8, 811–813.
66.
WarrenW. (2000) The dynamics of perception and action. In The 5th Biannual Motor Control and Human Skill Research Workshop 27.01–30.01.2000. Brisbane, Queensland: Griffin Univer., Gold Coast Campus. Pp. 19–20. [Abstract]
67.
WestL. J.SabbanY. (1982) Hierarchy of stroking habits at the typewriters. Journal of Applied Psychology, 67, 370–376.
68.
WrightC. E. (1993) Evaluating the specific role of time in the control of handwriting. Acta Psychologica, 82, 5–52.
