A computational theory for the production of limb movements.

Abstract

Motor control is a fundamental process that underlies all voluntary behavioral responses. Several different theories based on different principles (task dynamics, equilibrium-point theory, passive-motion paradigm, active inference, optimal control) account for specific aspects of how actions are produced, but fail to provide a unified view on this problem. Here, we propose a concise theory of motor control based on three principles: optimal feedback control, control with a receding time horizon, and task representation by a series of via-points updated at fixed frequency. By construction, the theory provides a suitable solution to the degrees-of-freedom problem, that is, trajectory formation in the presence of redundancies and noise. We show through computer simulations that the theory also explains the production of discrete, continuous, rhythmic, and temporally constrained movements, and their parametric and statistical properties (scaling laws, power laws, speed/accuracy trade-offs). The theory has no free parameters and only limited variations in its implementation details and in the nature of noise are necessary to guarantee its explanatory power. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).