Prof. Dagmar Sternad

时间： 2015-03-11 13:00 - 15:00

地点： 王克桢楼1710房间

How do humans manage their actions and interactions with the physical world? How do we learn new skills or re-learn basic behaviors after injury, such as reaching to drink from a glass without spilling? Our research approach analyzes how task dynamics constrain and enable actions and their improvement with practice. Characteristic of our research is to start with a mechanical model of the task and render it in a virtual environment with a fully known workspace. Based on mathematical analyses of the modeled task, we study how humans develop stable solutions to meet complex task demands. Key concepts in our analysis are variability, stability, and predictability. Using three model tasks, throwing a ball, rhythmic bouncing of a ball, and transporting a “cup of coffee”, we show that humans develop skill by: 1) exploiting solutions with dynamic stability, 2) finding error-tolerant strategies and channeling noise into task-irrelevant dimensions, 3) optimizing predictability of object dynamics. These findings are the basis for developing propositions about the controller: We propose that complex actions are generated with dynamic primitives, modules that overcome substantial delays and noise in the neuro-mechanical system. Using these experimental platforms we have developed interventions that assess or help restore functional behavior in neurological patients.

2015-03-11

2015-03-11