1,721,043 research outputs found
Sound and Movement
Full text linkDaffertshofer, A. [Promotor]Cesari, P. [Copromotor]Craig, C. [Copromotor
A motion based setup for peri-personal space estimation with virtual auditory displays
No full textThe core idea of the work is to reveal the presence of changes in action preparation as a function of sounds movements (e.g. direction of arrivals and trajectories in space) and sounds semantics (e.g. threatening or pleasant) when they are sent within the Peri-Personal-Space (PPS) of blindfolded listeners. This near-field acoustics is known to activate direct pathways from the motor cortex to the muscular periphery, as a prompt preparation against threats. The proposed system is thought to aid particularly to people with sensory or cognitive impairments
Coupling between punch efficacy and body stability for elite karate
No full textIn order to be successful in karate, it is necessary to apply the highest punch impulse at impact while maintaining dynamic body stability during the entire action. Here we test two different techniques to execute a specific karate punch and we compare expert and novice performances to explore the punch efficacy at different skill levels. Each participant, standing on a force platform, was asked to punch a 25 kg box as hard as possible. The Centre of Pressure (CoP) migration and the kinematics of the upper limb were analysed. Experts (compared to novices) showed, as expected, higher upper limb velocity, punch impulse and a larger box displacement. Interestingly, while the CoP area considered both during and after the punch was the same for both groups, the amount of backward CoP displacement per unit of impulse applied was significantly lower for experts compared to novices. Collectively these results show the specific strategy used to maintain body stability in karate experts. © 2007 Sports Medicine Australia
Chapter 2: The neural pathway of sport actions: from seeing and hearing to doing: perception-action relationships.
No full textThis chapter discusses a partial overview of the neuroscientific knowledge of sports performance. Our body is a beautiful machine able to receive different sources of information from the environment and to produce actions that in turn transform the environment. Traditionally, scientists from biomechanics, motor control and robotics were the specialists interested in understanding the body and its movements. One of the principal roles played by the connection between perceptual and motor functions is organizing actions in advance. The ventral pathway is involved when perception is simply for action recognition and has not a specific goal. A parallel neural network serves the perception of non-facial body parts. Representation of the human body is not only tied to sensori-motor information. Indeed, perceiving one's own and others' body heavily relies on visual information. One important implication for this hypothesized relationship between perception and action is that predictions can be made from an analysis of an action to define perception and vice versa
Body-scaled transitions in human grip configurations.
No full textThis article reports two experiments that were set up to examine the preferred human grip configuration used to displace cubes that varied in length (Lc), mass (Mc), and density (ML3). In particular, the authors sought to provide a more precise test of a dimensional relation between the object and the hand that had previously been shown to predict the grip configuration used to transport an object from one location to another. The experiments examined 2 grip transitions (from 3 digits to 4 digits and from 1 hand to 2 hands) within 2 sets of object conditions. In Experiment 1, cubes with a low density and a small increment in size (1 mm) were used, whereas in Experiment 2, cubes with 2 fixed sizes and small increments in mass were used. The results showed that the body-scaled equation K = logLc + (logMc/a + bMh + cLh), where Mh and Lh are the anthropometric measures of the hand mass and length and a, b, and c are empirical constants, is the body-scaled information that predicts the grip configurations used to displace objects
Body scaling of grip configurations in children aged 6-12 years.
No full textThis study examined the influence of body scale on the grip configurations used by young children (6-12 years old) to displace cubes that varied systematically in size (L) and mass (M). It was determined if the scaling relation we had developed for adults K = log Lc + ((log Mc)/(a + bLh + cMh)) where L(c) and M(c) is the length side and mass of the cubes, respectively, and L(h) and M(h) are the length and mass of the hand, respectively, it would also predict the change in grip configurations across this age range in a fashion consistent with the principle of similitude. The statistical and scaling analyses revealed that the invariant body-scaled relation that specified the adult grip transitions also held for the 6- to 12-year-old children
The scaling of human grip configurations
No full textThe many degrees of freedom of the hand and arm afford the wide range and rich adaptability of human grip configurations in action. Several classification schemes of human grip configurations have been proposed, but none is based on scaling laws of physical biology, which are well established for other categorizations of fundamental physical activities such as locomotion. This study examined the preferred human grip configurations used to displace to a new location cubes that varied systematically in length (L), mass (M), and density (ML-3). The body-scaled equation K = log L + (log M)/h (where h refers to anthropometric measures of the hand) predicted the grip configurations used to displace objects. The findings suggest that information about the dynamic scaling relation is picked up visually and organizes the many degrees of freedom of the hand-arm complex in the coordination of prehensile grip configurations
Abolizionismo e questione di genere nell’Ottocento
No full textThis essay, through the use of testimonies, memorials, judicial documents, legal works and literary texts, tries to demonstrate that, unlike what the dominant doctrine and ideology have handed down in an interested way, the contribution of women, both of slave than free, it was of fundamental importance in laying the foundations and for the affirmation of the abolitionist movement. White leaders of the abolitionist movement, albeit open-minded and progressive, have, at times unwittingly, clouded the role of women in claiming equal political and civil rights
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