Synergies in coordination: A comprehensive overview of neural, computational, and behavioral approaches

Journal article


Michaela Bruton and Nicholas J. O'Dwyer. (2018). Synergies in coordination: A comprehensive overview of neural, computational, and behavioral approaches. Journal of Neurophysiology. 120(6), pp. 2761-2774. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00052.2018
AuthorsMichaela Bruton and Nicholas J. O'Dwyer
Abstract

At face value, the term “synergy” provides a unifying concept within a fractured field that encompasses complementary neural, computational, and behavioral approaches. However, the term is not used synonymously by different researchers but has substantially different meanings depending on the research approach. With so many operational definitions for the one term, it becomes difficult to use as either a descriptive or explanatory concept, yet it remains pervasive and apparently indispensable. Here we provide a summary of different approaches that invoke synergies in a descriptive or explanatory context, summarizing progress, not within the one approach, but across the theoretical landscape. Bernstein’s framework of flexible hierarchical control may provide a unifying framework here, since it can incorporate divergent ideas about synergies. In the current motor control literature, synergy may refer to conceptually different processes that could potentially operate in parallel, across different levels within the same hierarchical control scheme. There is evidence for the concurrent existence of synergies with different features, both “hard-wired” and “soft-wired,” and task independent and task dependent. By providing a comprehensive overview of the multifaceted ideas about synergies, our goal is to move away from the compartmentalization and narrow the focus on one level and promote a broader perspective on the control and coordination of movement.

Keywordscoordinative structure; degrees of freedom; hierarchy; module; primitive
Year2018
JournalJournal of Neurophysiology
Journal citation120 (6), pp. 2761-2774
PublisherAmerican Physiological Society
ISSN0022-3077
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00052.2018
Scopus EID2-s2.0-85058973848
Publisher's version
File Access Level
Controlled
Publication process dates
Deposited13 May 2021
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