Manual Actions Research Articles

Cognitive control of orofacial motor and vocal responses in the ventrolateral and dorsomedial human frontal cortex

In the primate brain, a set of areas in the ventrolateral frontal (VLF) cortex and the dorsomedial frontal (DMF) cortex appear to control vocalizations. The basic role of this network in the human brain and how it may have evolved to enable complex speech remain unknown. In the present functional neuroimaging study of the human brain, a multidomain protocol was utilized to investigate the roles of the various areas that comprise the VLF-DMF network in learning rule-based cognitive selections between different types of motor actions: manual, orofacial, nonspeech vocal, and speech vocal actions. Ventrolateral area 44 (a key component of the Broca's language production region in the human brain) is involved in the cognitive selection of orofacial, as well as, speech and nonspeech vocal responses; and the midcingulate cortex is involved in the analysis of speech and nonspeech vocal feedback driving adaptation of these responses. By contrast, the cognitive selection of speech vocal information requires this former network and the additional recruitment of area 45 and the presupplementary motor area. We propose that the basic function expressed by the VLF-DMF network is to exert cognitive control of orofacial and vocal acts and, in the language dominant hemisphere of the human brain, has been adapted to serve higher speech function. These results pave the way to understand the potential changes that could have occurred in this network across primate evolution to enable speech production.

Prefrontal engagement during sequential manual actions in children at early adolescence compared with adults

In everyday behavior, we perform numerous goal-directed manual tasks that contain a sequence of actions. However, knowledge is limited regarding developmental aspects of predictive control mechanisms in such tasks, particularly with regard to brain activations supporting sequential manual actions in children. We investigated these issues in typically developing children at early adolescence (11–14 years) compared with previously collected data from adults. While lying in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, the participants steered a cursor on a computer screen towards sequentially presented targets using a hand-held manipulandum. The next target was either revealed after completion of the ongoing target (one-target condition), in which case forthcoming movements could not be planned ahead, or displayed in advance (two-target condition), which allowed the use of a predictive control strategy. The adults completed more targets in the two- than one-target condition, displaying an efficient predictive control strategy. The children, in contrast, completed fewer targets in the two- than one-target condition, and difficulties implementing a predictive strategy were found due to a limited capacity to inhibit premature movements. Brain areas with increased activation in children, compared with the adults, included prefrontal and posterior parietal regions, suggesting an increased demand for higher-level cognitive processing in the children due to inhibitory challenges. Thus, regarding predictive mechanisms during sequential manual tasks, crucial development likely occurs beyond early adolescence. This is at a later age than what has previously been reported from other manual tasks, suggesting that predictive phase transitions are difficult to master.

Static tests the stiffness of car tires

Safe driving requires from the driver a number of manual actions related to the existing traffic situation. The vehicle, reacting to the imposed extortions, is subjected to three-axle loads, which are transferred by friction-shaped coupling of the tire with the surface. The generated forces affect the tread and the side of the tire, the suspension of the vehicle and the steering. The article presents the results of bench tests of two types of tires: tires with special tread (coloured) made to order and popular tires available in retail sales. The tests were carried out under static conditions. The tests were carried out in cooperation with the Stomil Tire Research and Development Center in Poznan on the position enabling acquisition and archiving of the values of forces in the function of displacement (deformation of the tire). The obtained results made it possible to determine the directional stiffness of the radial, peripheral, lateral and torsional tires. It allowed to build the stiffness characteristics and compare the response to the forced testing tires. The results obtained form the basis for analysing the scope of vehicle traffic safety, and can also be used as input data in simulation tests.

Machine and manual working actions for different manure removing technologies

Technologies for the removal of manure from cowsheds and paddocks have been investigated by video recording with the following timing and estimation of absolute and specific costs of working actions, time and resources. The comparative estimation of different technologies for manure removing was performed: by delta-scraper equipment from a manure passage; by wheeled tractor with a bulldozer attachment from a manure passage; by bulldozer from a cowshed for housing on deep litter; by wheeled tractor with frontal loader attachment from a cowshed for housing on deep litter; by perimeter gutter cleaner in tie-stall cowshed; by bulldozer from the big paddock outdoor; manually from small paddock with replaceable litter in a cowshed on a pile near the feed passage. It was established that the influences of the method of manure removing on the specific costs of working actions, time and resources per 1 centner of removed manure are significant (p<0.001 for the vast majority of these final characteristics) The measures of influence η2 are within the range from 0.279 to 0.789. The mechanized removing of manure from the manure passage using a delta-scraper in the cowshed with free-stall housing is the most ergonomical among the methods studied. This equipment works at least semi-automatic and performs on average only 0.92 working actions with a duration of 155.1 s for the removing of 1 centner of manure, which worth around 1.08 UAH. Its functioning is characterized by a complete lack of working actions of adaptive type, while the remaining methods of manure removing require at least a quarter of such hard-to-perform and long actions. The accompanying manual labor actions of the personnel for cleaning of boxes from manure at manure removing by a delta scraper or a tractor with a bulldozer attachment are 10.33 labor actions with a total duration of 12.44 s per 1 cow per day. The removal of manure by the perimeter gutter cleaner has the worst (except the fully manual method) ratio between the number of mechanized and manual working actions €“ 558 manual actions per each machine action.

The Importance of Motor Skills for Development.

Motor skills are important for development. Everything infants do involves motor skills - postural, locomotor, and manual actions; exploratory actions; social interactions; and actions with artifacts. Put another way, all behavior is motor behavior, and thus motor skill acquisition is synonymous with behavioral development. Age norms for basic motor skills provide useful diagnostics for "typical" development, but cultural differences in child-rearing practices influence skill onset ages. Whenever they emerge, motor skills lay the foundation for development by opening up new opportunities for learning. Postural control brings new parts of the environment into view and into reach; locomotion makes the larger world accessible; manual skills promote new forms of interactions with objects; and motor skills involving every part of the body enhance opportunities for social interaction. Thus, motor skills can instigate a cascade of developments in domains far afield from motor behavior - perception and cognition, language and communication, emotional expression and regulation, physical growth and health, and so on. Finally, motor skill acquisition makes behavior increasingly functional and flexible. Infants learn to tailor behavior to variations in their body and environment and to discover or construct new means to achieve their goals.

Using head-mounted eye-trackers to study sensory-motor dynamics of coordinated attention.

In this chapter, we introduce recent research using head-mounted eye-trackers to record sensory-motor behaviors at a high resolution and examine parent-child interactions at a micro-level. We focus on one important research topic in early social and cognitive development: how young children and their parents coordinate their visual attention in social interactions. We start by introducing head-mounted eye-tracking and recent studies conducted using this method. We then present two sets of novel analysis techniques that examine how manual actions of parents and children with and without hearing loss contribute to their attention coordination. In the first set of analyses, we investigated different pathways parents and children used to coordinate their visual attention in toy play. After that, we used Sankey diagrams to represent the temporal dynamics of parents' and children's manual actions prior to and during coordinated attention. These two sets of analyses allowed us to explore how participants' sensory-motor behaviors contribute to the establishment and maintenance of coordinated attention. More generally, head-mounted eye-tracking allows us to ask new questions and conduct new analyses that were not previously possible. With this new sensing technology, the results here highlight the importance of understanding early social interaction from a multimodal, embodied view.

The temporal dynamics of infants' joint attention: Effects of others' gaze cues and manual actions

Infants' development of joint attention shows significant advances between 9 and 12 months of age, but we still need to learn much more about how infants coordinate their attention with others during this process. The objective of this study was to use eye tracking to systematically investigate how 8- and 12-month-old infants as well as adults dynamically select their focus of attention while observing a social partner demonstrate infant-directed actions. Participants were presented with 16 videos of actors performing simple infant-directed actions from a first-person perspective. Looking times to faces as well as hands-and-objects were calculated for participants at each age, and developmental differences were observed, although all three groups looked more at hands-and-objects than at faces. In order to assess whether visual attention was coordinated with the actors' behaviors, we compared participants looking at faces and objects in response to gaze direction as well as infant-directed actions vs. object-directed actions. By presenting video stimuli that involved continuously changing actions, we were able to document that the likelihood of joint attention changes in both real and developmental time. Overall, adults and 12-month-old infants' visual attention was modulated by gaze cues as well as actions, whereas this was only partially true for 8-month-old infants. Our results reveal that joint attention is not a monolithic process nor does it develop all at once.

The positive influence of manual object exploration on predictive grasping for a moving object in 9-month-old infants.

The present study examined whether infants' manual prediction ability is related to different types of their manual object exploration behavior. Thirty-two 9-month-old infants were tested in a manual prediction task, in which they were encouraged to reach for a temporarily occluded moving object. All infants also participated in a manual exploration task, in which they could freely explore five toy blocks. Infants with a high number of haptic scans in the manual exploration task showed a higher prediction rate in the manual prediction task compared to infants with a low haptic scan score. Reaction times of all infants decreased during the test blocks. However, the reaction time of infants with a high haptic scan score was faster in general. Our findings suggest that object experiences gathered by specific manual exploratory actions, such as haptic scans, are related to infants' predictive abilities when reaching and grasping for a temporarily occluded moving object.

Moved by Emotions: Affective Concepts Representing Personal Life Events Induce Freely Performed Steps in Line With Combined Sagittal and Lateral Space-Valence Associations.

Embodiment approaches to cognition and emotion have put forth the idea that the way we think and talk about affective events often recruits spatial information that stems, to some extent, from our bodily experiences. For example, metaphorical expressions such as “being someone’s right hand” or “leaving something bad behind” convey affectivity associated with the lateral and sagittal dimensions of space. Action tendencies associated with affect such as the directional fluency of hand movements (dominant right hand-side – positive; non-dominant left hand-side – negative) and approach-avoidance behaviors (forward – positive; backwards – negative) might be mechanisms supporting such associations. Against this background, experimental research has investigated whether positive and negative words are freely allocated into space (e.g., close or far from one’s body) or resonate with congruent (vs. incongruent) predefined manual actions usually performed by joysticks or button presses (e.g., positive – right; negative – left, or vice versa). However, to date, it is unclear how the processing of affective concepts resonate with directional actions of the whole body, the more if such actions are performed freely within a context enabling both, lateral and sagittal movements. Accordingly, 67 right-handed participants were to freely step on an 8-response pad (front, back, right, left, front-right, front-left, back-right, or back-left) after being presented in front of them valence-laden personal life-events submitted before the task (e.g., words or sentences such as “graduation” or “birth of a child”). The most revealing finding of this study indicates that approach-avoidance behaviors and space-valence associations across laterality are interwoven during whole body step actions: Positive events induced steps highly biased to front-right whereas negative events induced steps highly biased to back-left.

Delineating the cognitive-neural substrates of writing: a large scale behavioral and voxel based morphometry study

The current study investigated the cognitive and neural substrates that underpin writing ability. We explored similarities and differences in writing numbers and words and compared these to language and manual actions in a large group of sub-acute, stroke patients (n = 740). The behavioral data showed association and dissociation in the ability to write words and numbers. Comorbidities of writing deficits with both language and motor impairments were prevalent, with less than a handful showing deficits restricted to the writing tasks. A second analysis with a subset of patients (n = 267) explored the neural networks that mediate writing abilities. Lesion to right temporal contributed to writing words, while lesions to left postcentral contributed to writing numbers. Overlapping neural mechanisms included the bilateral prefrontal cortex, right inferior parietal, left middle occipital and the right cerebellum. With the former regions associated with error pattern typical to writing based on prior knowledge (the lexical route), while lesion to left MOG was associated with errors to the phonological (non-lexical) route. Using principle components extracted from the behavioral data, we showed that right prefrontal and right parietal contributed to the ability to use pen, while lesion to bilateral prefrontal, inferior temporal and cerebellum supported unique use of pen for writing. The behavioral and imaging data suggested that writing numbers and words primarily relied on overlapping cognitive and neural functions. Incidents of pure writing deficits, in the absence of motor or language deficits were rare. Nevertheless, the PCA and neural data suggested that writing abilities were associated with some unique neuro-cognitive functions, specifically dedicated to the use of pen and the ability to transform meaning to motor command.

Iot Based Platform for Smart Electric Fans

Existing speed control systems on conventional electric fans operate in only three speed modes: Low, Medium and High. Changing the speed of the fan is a manual action which may be problematic for many users, such as senior citizens ordisabled users or any user with mobility problems. Using Internet of Things (IoT) technology solves this problem by allowing variation in fan speed from very low speed to the maximum speed as a linearly increasing speed function. This paper clearly explains the functioning of the IoT, and how to use IoT applications for automatic fan speed adjustments in this way, resulting in the SmartFan. A smart mobile phone with a mobile app is used as the remote controller. A control algorithm was developed to control the interactive communications between the smartphone and the electric fan. This control approach has proven to be a useful and convenient method for the remote control of electric fan speeds.

Look before you fit: The real-time planning cascade in children and adults

Goal-directed actions involve problem solving—how to coordinate perception and action to get the job done. Whereas previous work focused on the ages at which children succeed in problem solving, we focused on how children solve motor problems in real time. We used object fitting as a model system to understand how perception and action unfold from moment to moment. Preschoolers (N = 25) and adults (N = 24) inserted three-dimensional objects into their corresponding openings in a “shape-sorting” box. We applied a new combination of real-time methods to the problem of object fitting—head-mounted eye tracking to record looking behaviors, video microcoding to record adjustments in object orientation between reach and insertion, and real-time analysis techniques (recurrent quantification analysis and Granger causality) to test the timing relations between visual and manual actions. Children, like adults, solved the problem successfully. However, adults outperformed children in terms of their speed of fitting, and speed depended on when adjustments of object orientation occurred. Adults adjusted object orientation during transport, whereas children adjusted object orientation after arriving at the box. Children’s delays in adjustment resulted from delays in looking at the target shape and its corresponding aperture. Findings show that planning is a real-time cascade of perception and action, and looking provides the basis for planning actions prospectively. We suggest that developmental improvements in problem solving are driven by real-time changes in the instigation of the planning cascade and the timing of its components.

Assessing the convergent validity between the automated emotion recognition software Noldus FaceReader 7 and Facial Action Coding System Scoring.

This study validates automated emotion and action unit (AU) coding applying FaceReader 7 to a dataset of standardized facial expressions of six basic emotions (Standardized and Motivated Facial Expressions of Emotion). Percentages of correctly and falsely classified expressions are reported. The validity of coding AUs is provided by correlations between the automated analysis and manual Facial Action Coding System (FACS) scoring for 20 AUs. On average 80% of the emotional facial expressions are correctly classified. The overall validity of coding AUs is moderate with the highest validity indicators for AUs 1, 5, 9, 17 and 27. These results are compared to the performance of FaceReader 6 in previous research, with our results yielding comparable validity coefficients. Practical implications and limitations of the automated method are discussed.

Contributions of the Left and the Right Hemispheres on Language-Induced Grip Force Modulation of the Left Hand in Unimanual Tasks.

Background and Objectives: Language-induced grip force modulation (LGFM) can be used to better understand the link between language and motor functions as an expression of embodied language. However, the contribution of each brain hemisphere to LGFM is still unclear. Using six different action verbs as stimuli, this study evaluated the grip force modulation of the left hand in a unimanual task to characterize the left and right hemispheres’ contributions. Materials and Methods: Left-hand LGFM of 20 healthy and consistently right-handed subjects was evaluated using the verbs “to write”, “to hold”, “to pull” (left-lateralized central processing actions), “to draw”, “to tie”, and “to drive” (bihemispheric central processing actions) as linguistic stimuli. The time between the word onset and the first interval of statistical significance regarding the baseline (here as reaction time, RT) was also measured. Results: The six verbs produced LGFM. The modulation intensity was similar for the six verbs, but the RT was variable. The verbs “to draw”, “to tie”, and “to drive”, whose central processing of the described action is bihemispheric, showed a longer RT compared to the other verbs. Conclusions: The possibility of a given manual action being performed by the left hand in consistent right-handers does not interfere with the occurrence of LGFM when the descriptor verb of this action is used as a linguistic stimulus, even if the possibility is remote. Therefore, LGFM seems to mainly rely on the left hemisphere, while a greater activation of the right hemisphere in action processing appears to slow the increase in LGFM intensity.

Considerations on the regulatory issues for realization of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships

The Maritime Safety Committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) agreed to include a new agenda item “Regulatory Scoping Exercise (RSE) for the use of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS)” in order to determine how the safe, secure and environmentally sound operation of MASS may be introduced in the regulations. The first step of the RSE is a review of the IMO instruments to identify the provisions which prevent MASS operations or which may need amendments or clarifications. The authors, as representatives of Japan, undertook the initial review of Chapters II-2, VI and VII of the annex to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea and associated codes. As a result, it was revealed that there were a lot of provisions which required manual operations and actions by personnel. To realize MASS without persons on board, appropriate alternative safety measures are needed, taking into account the intentions of the existing regulations. Also, another concept for fire safety and emergency procedures for carriage of cargoes could be introduced, taking into account the reduction of risks owing to absence of persons on board when the cargo does not include any harmful substances for marine environment.

Paperless Safety Lifecycle

To ensure the functionality of safety systems in plants, maintenance is required. Plant operators are obliged to perform inspections, evaluate the results and archive the protocols.Inspection plans and intervals vary deeply depending on the kind of equipment, the legal basis and the standards that are taken into account. Safety integrated systems according to IEC 61508/61511 have to fulfil a certain safety integrity level (SIL). The proof-test interval amounts into the SIL calculation. A typical interval is twelve month, which leads to frequent inspections. Equipment for hazardous areas in terms of explosion protection also needs to be inspected periodically. Depending on national legislation, a typical interval can be 36 Month. Other equipment types, especially mechanical equipment also needs to be inspected periodically, e.g. pipe systems and pressure vessels.Inspections in general lead to a huge amount of effort for all affected people due to many different issues.Carrying out an inspection in a lowly digitalized environment can cost a lot of time, as checklists have to be administrated, printed, filled in, scanned and evaluated by many manual actions. The Digitalization offers opportunities for plant operators by introducing paperless workflows. Another opportunity is to reduce the effort that employees have in keeping all the different IT-systems resulting from the plant's life cycle up to date. In the engineering phase, CAE- and Engineering systems are in use to manage equipment. During the operation of the Plant, ERP-Systems and document management systems (DMS) must be taken into account. Double data input in all systems can cause mistakes, a poor data quality in general and it requires additional time. A highly digitalized environment can help the operator to solve the conflict between time, quality and costs.

Dynamic and static object detection and tracking in an autonomous surface vehicle

ABSTRACT One of the main challenges that faces the monitoring of maritime structures and ports is related to constantly changing weather and surrounding conditions. These conditions make manual actions very expensive, unreliable and imprecise. To overcome these problems, using Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASV) is the best option. In this research, as part of a research project, a stereo vision system was implemented on an ASV to detect and track static and dynamic obstacles. In order to examine the proposed algorithm, two sets of experiments have been designed; first, the ASV moves toward stationary objects to localise all static and dynamic objects. Second, the ASV tracks a target boat, which equipped with an RTK-GPS and estimates relative and absolute positions. The accuracy of the tracking algorithm was evaluated in the digital elevation map, with the lowest RMSE of 1.575, and 0.6621 (m) using raw and EKF data, respectively.

Postural, Visual, and Manual Coordination in the Development of Prehension.

We investigated the real-time cascade of postural, visual, and manual actions for object prehension in 38 6- to 12-month-old infants (all independent sitters) and eight adults. Participants' task was to retrieve a target as they spun past it at different speeds on a motorized chair. A head-mounted eye tracker recorded visual actions and video captured postural and manual actions. Prehension played out in a coordinated sequence of postural-visual-manual behaviors starting with turning thehead and trunk to bring the toy into view, which in turn instigated the start of the reach. Visually fixating the toy to locate its position guided the hand for toy contact and retrieval. Prehension performance decreased at faster speeds, but quick planning and implementation of actions predicted better performance.

A Fully Integrated Open Solution for the Remote Operation of Pilot Plants

Nowadays remote access to systems in the instrumentation and measurement fields is both a reality and a challenge. There is a growing interest in replacing manual actions performed on site by remote actions carried out from anywhere around the world. To do that, besides the availability of suitable communication networks, it is necessary for the elements involved in the network to recognize each other, this latter task perhaps being the most complex one of the two. Integrating different hardware/software from different manufacturers into a single system with controlled remote access is not a trivial task. This paper presents a fully integrated open solution for the operation of pilot plants (scaled down, laboratory level industrial plants operated in university and other environments) using open access hardware/software on public networks. The proposed solution is independent of the nature of the pilot plant and its elements and can therefore be considered standard. In order to illustrate the capabilities of the proposed solution, two different types of pilot plant are presented.

The Embodied Penman: Effector-Specific Motor-Language Integration During Handwriting.

Several studies have illuminated how processing manual action verbs (MaVs) affects the programming or execution of concurrent hand movements. Here, to circumvent key confounds in extant designs, we conducted the first assessment of motor-language integration during handwriting-a task in which linguistic and motoric processes are co-substantiated. Participants copied MaVs, non-manual action verbs, and non-action verbs as we collected measures of motor programming and motor execution. Programming latencies were similar across conditions, but execution was faster for MaVs than for the other categories, regardless of whether word meanings were accessed implicitly or explicitly. In line with the Hand-Action-Network Dynamic Language Embodiment (HANDLE) model, such findings suggest that effector-congruent verbs can prime manual movements even during highly automatized tasks in which motoric and verbal processes are naturally intertwined. Our paradigm opens new avenues for fine-grained explorations of embodied language processes.