How a new behavioral pattern is stabilized with learning determines its persistence and flexibility in memory

Metastable attunement and real-life skilled behavior

In everyday situations, and particularly in some sport and working contexts, humans face an inherently unpredictable and uncertain environment. All sorts of unpredictable and unexpected things happen but typically people are able to skillfully adapt. In this paper, we address two key questions in cognitive science. First, how is an agent able to bring its previously learned skill to bear on a novel situation? Second, how can an agent be both sensitive to the particularity of a given situation, while remaining flexibly poised for many other possibilities for action? We will argue that both the sensitivity to novel situations and the sensitivity to a multiplicity of action possibilities are enabled by the property of skilled agency that we will call metastable attunement. We characterize a skilled agent's flexible interactions with a dynamically changing environment in terms of metastable dynamics in agent-environment systems. What we find in metastability is the realization of two competing tendencies: the tendency of the agent to express their intrinsic dynamics and the tendency to search for new possibilities. Metastably attuned agents are ready to engage with a multiplicity of affordances, allowing for a balance between stability and flexibility. On the one hand, agents are able to exploit affordances they are attuned to, while at the same time being ready to flexibly explore for other affordances. Metastable attunement allows agents to smoothly transition between these possible configurations so as to adapt their behaviour to what the particular situation requires. We go on to describe the role metastability plays in learning of new skills, and in skilful behaviour more generally. Finally, drawing upon work in art, architecture and sports science, we develop a number of perspectives on how to investigate metastable attunement in real life situations.

The Development of Bimanual Coordination Across Toddlerhood

As one of the hallmarks of human activity and cultural achievement, bimanual coordination has been the focus of research efforts in multiple fields of inquiry. Since the seminal work of Cohen (1971) and Kelso and colleagues (Haken, Kelso, & Bunz, 1985; Kelso, Southard, & Goodman, 1979), bimanual action has served as a model system used to investigate the role of cortical, perceptual, cognitive, and situational underpinnings of coordinated movement sequences (e.g., Bingham, 2004; Oliveira & Ivry, 2008). This work has been guided primarily by dynamical systems theory in general, and by the formal Haken-Kelso-Bunz (HKB; 1985) model of bimanual coordination, in particular. The HKB model describes the self-organizing relationship between a coordinated movement pattern and the underlying parameters that support that pattern, and can also be used to conceptualize and test predictions of how changes in coordination occur. Much of the work investigating bimanual control under the HKB model has been conducted with adults who are acting over time periods of a few seconds to a few days. However, there are also changes in bimanual control that occur over far longer time spans, including those that emerge across childhood and into adolescence (e.g., Wolff, Kotwica, & Obregon, 1998). Using the formal HKB model as a starting point, we analyzed the ontogenetic emergence of a particular pattern of bimanual coordination, specifically, the anti-phase (or inverse oscillatory motion) coordination pattern between the upper limbs in toddlers who are performing a drumming task (see Brakke, Fragaszy, Simpson, Hoy, & Cummins-Sebree, 2007). This study represents a first attempt to document the emergence of the anti-phase pattern by examining both microgenetic and ontogenetic patterns of change in bimanual activity. We report the results of a longitudinal study in which seven toddlers engaged monthly in a bimanual drumming task from 15 to 27 months of age. On some trials, an adult modeled in-phase or anti-phase action; on other trials, no action was modeled. We documented the motion dynamics accompanying the emergence of the anti-phase bimanual coordination pattern by assessing bout-to-bout and month-to-month changes in several movement parameters-oscillation frequency, amplitude ratio of the drumsticks, initial position of the limbs to begin bouts, and primary arm-joint involvement. These parameters provided a good starting point to understand how toddlers explore movement space in order to achieve greater stability in performing the anti-phase coordination pattern. Trained research assistants used Motus software to isolate each bout of drumming and to digitize the movement of the two drumstick heads relative to the stationary drum surface. Because we were primarily interested in the vertical movement of the drumsticks that were held in the child's hands, we relied on two-dimensional analyses and analyzed data that were tracked by a single camera. We used linear mixed effects analyses as well as qualitative analyses for each participant to help elucidate the emergence and stability of the child's use of anti-phase coordination. This approach facilitated descriptions of individual pathways of behavior that are possible only with longitudinal designs such as the one used here. Our analyses indicated that toddlers who were learning to produce anti-phase motion in this context employed a variety of strategies to adjust the topography of their action. Specifically, as we hypothesized, toddlers differentially exploited oscillation frequency and movement amplitude to support change to anti-phase action, which briefly appeared as early as 15 months of age but did not become relatively stable until approximately 20 months of age. We found evidence that many toddlers reduced oscillation frequency before transitioning from in-phase to anti-phase drumming. Toddlers also used different means of momentarily modulating the amplitude ratio between limbs to allow a change in coordination from in-phase to anti-phase. Nevertheless, these oscillation-frequency and amplitude-ratio strategies were interspersed by periods of nonsystematic exploration both within and between bouts of practice. We also observed that toddlers sometimes changed their initial limb positions to start a bout or altered which primary arm joints they used when drumming. When they enacted these changes, the toddlers increased performance of the anti-phase coordination pattern in their drumming. However, we found no evidence of systematic exploration with these changes in limb position and joint employment, suggesting that the toddlers did not intentionally employ these strategies to improve their performance on the task. Although bimanual drumming represents a highly specific behavior, our examination of the mechanisms underlying emergence of the anti-phase coordination pattern in this context is one of the missing pieces needed to understand the development of motor coordination more broadly. Our results document that the anti-phase coordination pattern emerges and stabilizes through modulation of the dynamics of the movement and change of the attractor landscape (i.e., the motor repertoire). Consistent with literatures in motor control, motor learning, and skill development, our results suggest that the acquisition of movements in ontogenetic development can be thought of as exploration of the emergent dynamics of perception and action. This conclusion is commensurate with a systemic approach to motor development in which functional dynamics, rather than specific structures, provide the basis for understanding developmental changes in skill. Based on our results as well as the relevant previous empirical literature, we present a conceptual model that incorporates developmental dynamics into the HKB model. This conceptual model calls for new investigations using a dynamical systems approach that allows direct control of movement parameters, and that builds on the methods and phenomena that we have described in the current work.

A complex systems approach to the study of change in psychotherapy

BACKGROUND

A growing body of research highlights the limitations of traditional methods for studying the process of change in psychotherapy. The science of complex systems offers a useful paradigm for studying patterns of psychopathology and the development of more functional patterns in psychotherapy. Some basic principles of change are presented from subdisciplines of complexity science that are particularly relevant to psychotherapy: dynamical systems theory, synergetics, and network theory. Two early warning signs of system transition that have been identified across sciences (critical fluctuations and critical slowing) are also described. The network destabilization and transition (NDT) model of therapeutic change is presented as a conceptual framework to import these principles to psychotherapy research and to suggest future research directions.

DISCUSSION

A complex systems approach has a number of implications for psychotherapy research. We describe important design considerations, targets for research, and analytic tools that can be used to conduct this type of research.

CONCLUSIONS

A complex systems approach to psychotherapy research is both viable and necessary to more fully capture the dynamics of human change processes. Research to date suggests that the process of change in psychotherapy can be nonlinear and that periods of increased variability and critical slowing might be early warning signals of transition in psychotherapy, as they are in other systems in nature. Psychotherapy research has been limited by small samples and infrequent assessment, but ambulatory and electronic methods now allow researchers to more fully realize the potential of concepts and methods from complexity science.

Off-line learning in a rhythmic bimanual task: early feedback dependency is reduced over wakefulness

Research has supported two distinct forms of motor skill consolidation that can occur between practice sessions: (1) off-line learning, and (2) memory stabilization. Off-line learning describes performance improvement between practice sessions that is above the gain observed at the end of practice, while memory stabilization describes a gain in performance that is maintained between practice sessions. This study used a Lissajous plot to provide concurrent feedback to train participants to produce a 90° relative phase between the index fingers (flexion/extension motion). Significant improvements in performance emerged after ten trials (5 min) of practice. At the end of training, participants were divided into two delay interval groups before retesting, 2-h and 6-h. The retesting session started with participants performing an interference task (10 trials, 5 min) that required training on a 45° relative phase between the fingers with concurrent feedback from the Lissajous plot. When training with the interference task was completed participants were retested with the 90° relative phase without the Lissajous plot feedback. In the retest of the 90° pattern, a performance loss was found in the 2-h delay group, whereas the 6-h delay group maintained the end of practice performance level. Maintenance of the same level of performance without the Lissajous plot represents memory stabilization of the initially trained 90° pattern. The findings are discussed within the context of current positions regarding procedural consolidation and the coordination dynamics framework wherein action and perception are linked through the informational nature of relative phase.

Meilensteine der Motorischen Verhaltensforschung

Zusammenfassung. Die Forschung zum motorischen Verhalten hat eine lange Tradition, wobei eine Vielzahl von Forschern zu einem breiten und tiefgehenden Verständnis des Themas beigetragen haben. Der Erkenntnisgewinn und Fortschritt in der Theorieentwicklung innerhalb des Feldes war zudem meist nicht-linear, sondern gezeichnet durch schnelle Wachstumsphasen nach der Veröffentlichung wichtiger Forschungsartikel und neuer theoretischer Perspektiven. Diese veränderten die Art und Weise wie wir das motorische Verhalten heute konzipieren; und sie sind noch nicht abgeschlossen. Wir werden einige der innovativsten und wirkungsvollsten Theorien und Entwicklungen auf dem Gebiet des motorischen Verhaltens (untergliedert in die drei Hauptbereiche Entwicklung, Kontrolle und Lernen) des letzten Jahrhunderts skizzieren und diskutieren. Darüber hinaus werden wir frühe, wegweisende Forschungsarbeiten vorstellen, die wir für unverzichtbar für das Studium der Motorikforschung halten. Der Blick zurück soll uns erlauben, eine Richtung für die Zukunft zu zeichnen und zu diskutieren. Diese Forschungsthemen können und werden (hoffentlich) in den nächsten Jahrzehnten in vielen Bereichen der Gesellschaft, einschließlich des Sports und der Bewegungswissenschaft, der Robotikforschung und der Klinik, einen wichtigen Einfluss auf die Entwicklung einer gesunden Lebenswelt haben.

Joint dyadic action: Error correction by two persons works better than by one alone

We investigated how two people learn to coordinate their movement to achieve a joint goal. Pairs of participants oscillated a joystick with their dominant hand whilst looking at a common feedback, a Lissajous figure, where each participant controlled either the vertical or horizontal coordinate of a moving dot. In the absence of specific instructions, inter-personal coordination was highly variable, punctuated by intermittent phase locking. When participants were required to produce a circular Lissajous figure, coordination variability decreased while accuracy, transfer entropy and the incidence of stable coordinative solutions (fixed points, including bi-stability) increased as a function of practice trials. When one partner closed his/her eyes, so that the other one received the full control of error correction, the stability and accuracy of coordination decreased. A questionnaire showed that partners experienced the feeling of we-control. The results were interpreted in terms of a disturbance ∼ correction challenge: joint action is enhanced by having a flexibly adjusting co-actor rather than a more predictable, but not adjusting, partner. At transfer, partners were able to produce a new, never-practiced Lissajous pattern, evidencing the generalisability of joint learning.

Behavioral Repertoire Influences the Rate and Nature of Learning in Climbing: Implications for Individualized Learning Design in Preparation for Extreme Sports Participation

Extreme climbing where participants perform while knowing that a simple mistake could result in death requires a skill set normally acquired in non-extreme environments. In the ecological dynamics approach to perception and action, skill acquisition involves a process where the existing repertoire of behavioral capabilities (or coordination repertoire) of a learner are destabilized and re-organized through practice—this process can expand the individuals affordance boundaries allowing the individual to explore new environments. Change in coordination repertoire has been observed in bi-manual coordination and postural regulation tasks, where individuals begin practice using one mode of coordination before transitioning to another, more effective, coordination mode during practice. However, individuals may also improve through practice without qualitatively reorganizing movement system components—they do not find a new mode of coordination. To explain these individual differences during learning (i.e., whether or not a new action is discovered), a key candidate is the existing coordination repertoire present prior to practice. In this study, the learning dynamics of body configuration patterns organized with respect to an indoor climbing surface were observed and the existing repertoire of coordination evaluated prior to and after practice. Specifically, performance outcomes and movement patterns of eight beginners were observed across 42 trials of practice over a 7-week period. A pre- and post-test scanning procedure was used to determine existing patterns of movement coordination and the emergence of new movement patterns after the practice period. Data suggested the presence of different learning dynamics by examining trial-to-trial performance in terms of jerk (an indicator of climbing fluency), at the individual level of analysis. The different learning dynamics (identified qualitatively) included: continuous improvement, sudden improvement, and no improvement. Individuals showing sudden improvement appeared to develop a new movement pattern of coordination in terms of their capability to climb using new body-wall orientations, whereas those showing continuous improvement did not, they simply improved performance. The individual who did not improve in terms of jerk, improved in terms of distance climbed. We discuss implications for determining and predicting how individual differences can shape learning dynamics and interact with metastable learning design.

Task experience influences coordinative structures and performance variables in learning a slalom ski-simulator task

The experiment investigated the progressions of the qualitative and quantitative changes in the movement dynamics of learning the ski-simulator as a function of prior-related task experience. The focus was the differential timescales of change in the candidate collective variable, neuromuscular synergies, joint motions, and task outcome as a function of learning over 7 days of practice. Half of the novice participants revealed in day 1 a transition of in-phase to anti-phase coupling of center of mass (CoM)-platform motion whereas the remaining novices and experienced group all produced on the first trial an anti-phase CoM-platform coupling. The experienced group also had initially greater amplitude and velocity of platform motion-a performance advantage over the novice group that was reduced but not eliminated with 7 days of practice. The novice participants who had an in-phase CoM-platform coupling on the initial trials of day 1 also showed the most restricted platform motion in those trials. Prior-related practice experience differentially influenced the learning of the task as evidenced by both the qualitative organization and the quantitative motion properties of the individual degrees of freedom (dof) to meet the task demands. The findings provide further evidence to the proposition that CoM-platform coupling is a candidate collective variable in the ski-simulator task that provides organization and boundary conditions to the motions of the individual joint dof and their couplings.

The Virtual Teacher (VT) Paradigm: Learning New Patterns of Interpersonal Coordination Using the Human Dynamic Clamp

The Virtual Teacher paradigm, a version of the Human Dynamic Clamp (HDC), is introduced into studies of learning patterns of inter-personal coordination. Combining mathematical modeling and experimentation, we investigate how the HDC may be used as a Virtual Teacher (VT) to help humans co-produce and internalize new inter-personal coordination pattern(s). Human learners produced rhythmic finger movements whilst observing a computer-driven avatar, animated by dynamic equations stemming from the well-established Haken-Kelso-Bunz (1985) and Schöner-Kelso (1988) models of coordination. We demonstrate that the VT is successful in shifting the pattern co-produced by the VT-human system toward any value (Experiment 1) and that the VT can help humans learn unstable relative phasing patterns (Experiment 2). Using transfer entropy, we find that information flow from one partner to the other increases when VT-human coordination loses stability. This suggests that variable joint performance may actually facilitate interaction, and in the long run learning. VT appears to be a promising tool for exploring basic learning processes involved in social interaction, unraveling the dynamics of information flow between interacting partners, and providing possible rehabilitation opportunities.

Incorporating coordination dynamics into an evolutionarily grounded science of intentional change

We suggest the authors' endeavor toward a science of intentional change may benefit from recent advances in informationally meaningful self-organizing dynamical systems. Coordination Dynamics, having contributed to an understanding of behavior on several time scales - adaptation, learning, and development - and on different levels of analysis, from the neural to the social, may complement, if not enhance, the authors' insights.

An evaluation of the effectiveness of PROMPT therapy in improving speech production accuracy in six children with cerebral palsy

This study evaluates perceptual changes in speech production accuracy in six children (3-11 years) with moderate-to-severe speech impairment associated with cerebral palsy before, during, and after participation in a motor-speech intervention program (Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets). An A1BCA2 single subject research design was implemented. Subsequent to the baseline phase (phase A1), phase B targeted each participant's first intervention priority on the PROMPT motor-speech hierarchy. Phase C then targeted one level higher. Weekly speech probes were administered, containing trained and untrained words at the two levels of intervention, plus an additional level that served as a control goal. The speech probes were analysed for motor-speech-movement-parameters and perceptual accuracy. Analysis of the speech probe data showed all participants recorded a statistically significant change. Between phases A1-B and B-C 6/6 and 4/6 participants, respectively, recorded a statistically significant increase in performance level on the motor speech movement patterns targeted during the training of that intervention. The preliminary data presented in this study make a contribution to providing evidence that supports the use of a treatment approach aligned with dynamic systems theory to improve the motor-speech movement patterns and speech production accuracy in children with cerebral palsy.

Switching among graphic patterns is governed by oscillatory coordination dynamics: implications for understanding handwriting

Revisiting an original idea by Hollerbach (1981), previous work has established that the production of graphic shapes, assumed to be the blueprint for handwriting, is governed by the dynamics of orthogonal non-linear coupled oscillators. Such dynamics determines few stable coordination patterns, giving rise to a limited set of preferred graphic shapes, namely, four lines and four ellipsoids independent of orientation. The present study investigates the rules of switching among such graphic coordination patterns. Seven participants were required to voluntarily switch within twelve pairs of shapes presented on a graphic tablet. In line with previous theoretical and experimental work on bimanual coordination, results corroborated our hypothesis that the relative stability of the produced coordination patterns determines the time needed for switching: the transition to a more stable pattern was shorter, and inversely. Moreover, switching between patterns with the same orientation but different eccentricities was faster than with a change in orientation. Nonetheless, the switching time covaried strictly with the change in relative phase effected by the transition between two shapes, whether this implied a change in eccentricity or in orientation. These findings suggest a new operational definition of what the (motor) units or strokes of handwriting are and shed a novel light on how coarticulation and recruitment of degrees of freedom may occur in graphic skills. They also yield some leads for understanding the acquisition and the neural underpinnings of handwriting.

Kinematic changes in jaw and lip control of children with cerebral palsy following participation in a motor-speech (PROMPT) intervention

This study evaluates kinematic movements of the jaw and lips in six children (3-11 years) with moderate-to-severe speech impairment associated with cerebral palsy before, during, and after participation in a motor-speech (PROMPT) intervention program. An ABCA single subject research design was implemented. Subsequent to the baseline phase (A), phase B targeted each participant's first intervention priority on the PROMPT motor-speech hierarchy. Phase C then targeted one level higher. A reference group of 12 typically-developing peers, age- and sex-matched to each participant with CP, was recruited for comparison in the interpretation of the kinematic data. Jaw and lip measurements of distance, velocity, and duration, during the production of 11 untrained stimulus words, were obtained at the end of each study phase using 3D motion analysis (Vicon Motus 9.1). All participants showed significant changes in specific movement characteristics of the jaw and lips. Kinematic changes were associated with significant positive changes to speech intelligibility in five of the six participants. This study makes a contribution to providing evidence that supports the use of a treatment approach aligned with dynamic systems theory to improve the motor-speech movement patterns and speech intelligibility in children with cerebral palsy.

Beyond the blank slate: routes to learning new coordination patterns depend on the intrinsic dynamics of the learner-experimental evidence and theoretical model

Using an approach that combines experimental studies of bimanual movements to visual stimuli and theoretical modeling, the present paper develops a dynamical account of sensorimotor learning, that is, how new skills are acquired and old ones modified. A significant aspect of our approach is the focus on the individual learner as the basic unit of analysis, in particular the quantification of predispositions and capabilities that the individual learner brings to the learning environment. Such predispositions constitute the learner's behavioral repertoire, captured here theoretically as a dynamical landscape (“intrinsic dynamics”). The learning process is demonstrated to not only lead to a relatively permanent improvement of performance in the required task—the usual outcome—but also to alter the individual's entire repertoire. Changes in the dynamical landscape due to learning are shown to result from two basic mechanisms or “routes”: bifurcation and shift. Which mechanism is selected depends the initial individual repertoire before new learning begins. Both bifurcation and shift mechanisms are accommodated by a dynamical model, a relatively straightforward development of the well-established HKB model of movement coordination. Model simulations show that although environmental or task demands may be met equally well using either mechanism, the bifurcation route results in greater stabilization of the to-be-learned behavior. Thus, stability not (or not only) error is demonstrated to be the basis of selection, both of a new pattern of behavior and the path (smooth shift versus abrupt qualitative change) that learning takes. In line with these results, recent neurophysiological evidence indicates that stability is a relevant feature around which brain activity is organized while an individual performs a coordination task. Finally, we explore the consequences of the dynamical approach to learning for theories of biological change.

Multistability and metastability: understanding dynamic coordination in the brain

Multistable coordination dynamics exists at many levels, from multifunctional neural circuits in vertebrates and invertebrates to large-scale neural circuitry in humans. Moreover, multistability spans (at least) the domains of action and perception, and has been found to place constraints upon, even dictating the nature of, intentional change and the skill-learning process. This paper reviews some of the key evidence for multistability in the aforementioned areas, and illustrates how it has been measured, modelled and theoretically understood. It then suggests how multistability—when combined with essential aspects of coordination dynamics such as instability, transitions and (especially) metastability—provides a platform for understanding coupling and the creative dynamics of complex goal-directed systems, including the brain and the brain–behaviour relation.

Time dependence of coupling in frequency-scaled bimanual coordination

Prior research has shown that fluctuations in the relative phase of bimanual coordination do not reflect a white Gaussian noise process. The present study furthered the examination of time-dependent properties in bimanual coordination by comparing the magnitude of relative phase variability and the degree of effector independence within the time domain. The original Kelso (1984) [10] bimanual frequency-scaling protocol was reproduced in which phase transitions from antiphase to in-phase were induced with increasing movement frequency. The results showed that as movement frequency was scaled-up the amount of relative phase variability increased and the effector movements became more dependent prior to the transition. This is consistent with previous modeling showing that stronger effector coupling can prevent the occurrence of phase transitions when long range correlations in relative phase are present. It appears that, as movement frequency is scaled up, increases in effector coupling strength minimize loss of pattern stability and delay the onset of phase transitions.

Covariation of attentional cost and stability provides further evidence for two routes to learning new coordination patterns

This study investigated how learning a new bimanual coordination pattern affects the attentional resources allotted by the CNS to maintain it throughout the acquisition process. The repertoire of the existing stable coordination patterns was individually evaluated before and after practice in order to detect expected changes with learning. Bistable participants, who initially exhibited stable and accurate coordination patterns at 0 degrees and 180 degrees of relative phase, practiced a 90 degrees pattern, whereas multistable participants, who already mastered the 90 degrees pattern, practiced 135 degrees pattern instead. In a typical dual-task paradigm, all participants had to simultaneously perform a reaction time task that assessed the associated attentional cost. Beyond an overall increase in accuracy, the results revealed a significant decrease in the attentional cost for bistable participants, accompanying the stabilization of the 90 degrees pattern with learning, but not for multistable participants, as the 135 degrees pattern barely stabilized. Pattern stability and attentional cost co-evolve during learning and the process follows two different routes depending on the interplay between the task and the learner's coordination abilities before practice.

Interactions between new and pre-existing dynamics in bimanual movement control

Motor skills are commonly acquired through practice. This process not only involves acquisition of the particular task demands but also requires overcoming pre-existing modes. In the present study, interactions between new and intrinsic dynamics were evaluated. Accordingly, bimanual finger tapping with a 2:1 ratio was performed according to two training schedules: continuous (consecutive trials) and interrupted (non-consecutive trials with intermediate 1:1 in-phase performances). In addition, in-phase and anti-phase were probed before and after training. Behavioral output was assessed by means of temporal accuracy and variability, whereas neural activation patterns were determined by EEG coherence. Results showed that continuous practice resulted in improved performance with reduced coherence across the motor network. For interrupted practice, behavioral execution ameliorated, although it was inferior to performance with continuous practice. In terms of neural changes, the degree of intrahemispheric and midline connectivity did not reduce with interrupted practice, whereas interhemispheric connectivity increased. This signifies that short-term motor consolidation of the 2:1 task was disrupted due to intermediate performance of the in-phase mode. Furthermore, the probed in-phase and anti-phase pattern showed no behavioral changes, although neural alterations occurred that depended on training schedule and coordination mode. Overall, the observations illustrate bidirectional interactions between new and inherent dynamics during motor acquisition, raising issues about effective methods for learning skills and scheduling of practices in neurorehabilitation.

Neuroimaging coordination dynamics in the sport sciences

Key methodological issues for designing, analyzing, and interpreting neuroimaging experiments are presented from the perspective of the framework of Coordination Dynamics. To this end, a brief overview of Coordination Dynamics is introduced, including the main concepts of control parameters and collective variables, theoretical modeling, novel experimental paradigms, and cardinal empirical findings. Basic conceptual and methodological issues for the design and implementation of coordination experiments in the context of neuroimaging are discussed. The paper concludes with a presentation of neuroimaging findings central to understanding the neural basis of coordination and addresses their relevance for the sport sciences. The latter include but are not restricted to learning and practice-related issues, the role of mental imagery, and the recovery of function following brain injury.