Centre of Exercise and Sports Science Research, School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia.
Biomedical Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Psychon Bull Rev. 2017 Dec;24(6):1675-1685. doi: 10.3758/s13423-016-1222-3.
Human locomotion has been well described but is still not well understood. This is largely true because the observable aspects of locomotion-neuromuscular activity that generates forces and motions-relate to both the task solution and the problem being solved. Identifying the fundamental task achieved in locomotion makes it possible to critically evaluate the motor control strategy used to accomplish the task goal. We contend that the readily observed movements and activities of locomotion should be considered mechanism(s). Our proposal is that the fundamental task of walking and running is analogous to flight, and should be defined in terms of the interaction of the individual's mass with the medium in which it moves: a low-density fluid for flight, or the supporting substrate for legged locomotion. A rigorous definition of the fundamental task can help identify the constraints and opportunities that influence its solution and guide the selection of appropriate mechanisms to accomplish the task effectively. The results from robotics-based modeling studies have demonstrated how the interaction of the mass and substrate can be optimized, making the goal of movement a defined trajectory of the individual's mass. We assessed these concepts by evaluating the ground reaction forces generated by an optimization model that satisfies the task but uses none of the mechanisms that are available to the human leg. Then we compared this model to normal human walking. Although it is obvious that the specific task of locomotion changes with a variety of movement challenges, clearly identifying the fundamental task of locomotion puts all other features in an interpretable context.
人类的运动行为已经得到了很好的描述，但仍然没有被很好地理解。这在很大程度上是因为运动的可观察方面——产生力和运动的神经肌肉活动——与任务解决方案和正在解决的问题都有关。确定运动中实现的基本任务，就有可能批判性地评估用于完成任务目标的运动控制策略。我们认为，运动中易于观察到的运动和活动应被视为机制。我们的提议是，行走和奔跑的基本任务类似于飞行，应该根据个体质量与它所移动的介质之间的相互作用来定义：飞行时是低密度流体，或用于腿部运动的支撑基底。基本任务的严格定义可以帮助确定影响其解决方案的约束和机会，并指导选择适当的机制来有效地完成任务。基于机器人的建模研究的结果表明，如何优化质量和基底的相互作用，使运动的目标成为个体质量的定义轨迹。我们通过评估满足任务但不使用人类腿部可用的任何机制的优化模型产生的地面反作用力来评估这些概念。然后，我们将该模型与正常的人类行走进行了比较。尽管很明显，运动的具体任务会随着各种运动挑战而变化，但清楚地确定运动的基本任务将使所有其他特征都处于可解释的背景中。
