A comparison of intra- and interpersonal interlimb coordination: Coordination breakdowns and coupling strength.

TLDR

The study investigated intra‑ and interpersonal interlimb coordination of wrist‑swung pendulums. Researchers examined steady‑state and breakdown of bimanual rhythmic coordination via the relative phase angle under varying coordination mode, oscillation frequency, and eigenfrequency differences, and estimated coupling strengths with a regression method. The coordination properties matched predictions of a dynamical model of coupled nonlinear oscillators, with coupling strength higher in in‑phase than anti‑phase and decreasing with frequency, and interpersonal coupling weaker than intrapersonal.

Abstract

Intra- and interpersonal interlimb coordination of pendulums swung from the wrist was investigated. For both kinds of coordination, the steady state and breakdown of bimanual rhythmic coordination as indexed by the time series of the relative phase angle phi were studied under the manipulation of coordination mode, frequency of oscillation, and the difference in the eigenfrequencies (preferred tempos) of the individual oscillating limbs. The properties observed for both intra- and interpersonal coordination were those predicted by a dynamical model of rhythmic coordination that considers the coordinated limbs coupled to be nonlinear oscillators. Using a regression method, the coupling strengths of the coupled system were recovered. As predicted by the dynamical model, the strength of the dynamic was generally greater for the in-phase than the anti-phase mode and decreased with increasing frequency. Further, the strength of the interpersonal interlimb coupling was weaker than that of intrapersonal interlimb coupling.