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Principal component analysis of complex multijoint coordinative movements

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A Publisher's Erratum to this article was published on 01 October 2005

Abstract

Principal components analysis (PCA) has not been very much in vogue within the field of movement coordination even though it is useful to reduce data dimensionality and to reveal underlying data structures. Traditionally, studies of coordination between two joints have predominantly made use of relative phase analyses. This has resulted in the identification of principal constraints that govern the Central Nervous System’s organization and the control of coordination patterns. However, relative phase analyses on pairwise joints have some drawbacks because they are not optimal for revealing convergent patterns among multijoint coordination modes and for unraveling generic control strategies.

In this paper, we present a method to analyze multijoint coordination based on the properties of PC, more specifically the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the covariance matrix.

The comparison between relative phase analysis and PCA shows that both provide similar and consistent results, underscoring the latter technique’s sensitivity to the study of coordination performance. In addition, it provides a method for automatic pattern detection as well as an index of performance for each joint within the context of the global coordination pattern.

Finally, the merit of the PCA technique within the context of central pattern generators (CPG) will be discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Kinesiology, Motor Control Laboratory, Group Biomedical Sciences, K.U. Leuven, Tervuursevest 101, 3001, Leuven, Belgium

    A. Forner-Cordero, O. Levin, Y. Li & S.P. Swinnen

  2. Instituto de Automática Industrial (IAI, CSC), Ctra de Campo Real km. 0200, 28500 Arganda del Rey (Madrid), España

    A. Forner-Cordero

Authors
  1. A. Forner-Cordero
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  2. O. Levin
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  3. Y. Li
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  4. S.P. Swinnen
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Correspondence to A. Forner-Cordero.

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An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00422-005-0009-9.

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Forner-Cordero, A., Levin, O., Li, Y. et al. Principal component analysis of complex multijoint coordinative movements. Biol Cybern 93, 63–78 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00422-005-0582-y

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