An Unlearned Principle for Controlling Natural Movements

Abstract

Recently, Gottlieb and colleagues discovered a linear relation between elbow and shoulder dynamic torque in natural pointing movements in the sagittal plane. The present study investigates if the process of learning to reach involves discovering this linearity principle. We inspected torque data from four infants who were learning to reach and grab a toy in front of them. In a longitudinal study, we collected data both in the period before and after they performed their first successful reaches. Torque profiles at the shoulder and elbow were typically multipeaked and became more and more biphasic toward the end of the first year of life. Torques at the shoulder and elbow were correlated tightly for movements in the prereaching period as well as for reaches later in the year. Furthermore, slopes of a regression of shoulder dynamic torque on elbow dynamic torque were remarkably constant at a value ∼2.5–3.0. If linear synergy is used by the nervous system to reduce the controlled degrees of freedom, it will act as a strong constraint on the complex of possible coordination patterns for arm movement early in life. Natural reaching movements can capitalize on this constraint because it simplifies the process of learning to reach.