Abstract
It is a matter of much debate whether voluntary movement performance and learning takes place in a perceptual-cognitive medium only or relies on an additional level of coordinative processes in the motor system. Here, I will argue in favor of the “perception and cognition only” working hypothesis, which says that there is no level or stage in human motor control where coherent muscular activity patterns are organized as such. Instead I propose that human movements are planned, executed, and stored in memory by addressing their anticipated perceptual consequences. Many factors including physical, biomechanical and neuro-muscular ones influence these consequences. However, the criteria ruling the coordinative action are those of the perceptual-cognitive system, in the first place. I present some experiments on bimanual interference whose outcome suggest that these phenomena are perceptual-conceptual in nature.
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Mechsner, F. (2004). A Perceptual-Cognitive Approach to Bimanual Coordination. In: Jirsa, V.K., Kelso, J.A.S. (eds) Coordination Dynamics: Issues and Trends. Understanding Complex Systems. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-39676-5_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-39676-5_10
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