A University of Queensland researcher has received a prestigious international award for his studies of bimanual co-ordination - movements involving the co-operation of both hands.
Postdoctoral research fellow in the Human Movement Studies Department Dr Richard Carson is the first Australian researcher to receive an Early Career Distinguished Scholar Award from the North American Society for Psychology, Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA).
This is the major organisation in the English-speaking world devoted to study of motor control, learning and development.
Dr Carson is working to extend knowledge of how nerve structures in the brain and spinal cord interact to produce functional and stable patterns of bimanual co-ordination.
'The work may have long-term application to a number of acquired movement deficits, especially those arising from spinal cord injury,' he said.
Knowledge gained through this research could also allow development of new techniques, such as functional electrical stimulation of muscles that permit some recovery of motor function following damage of the central nervous system.
Dr Carson's award was announced at NASPSPA's annual conference in early June at Denver, Colorado, and he will give a presentation on his award-winning research at next year's conference.
He is involved in an international research collaboration with Dr Lieke Peper, a postdoctoral fellow of the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences in the Netherlands. Dr Peper is working at the Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, Free University, Amsterdam.
Dr Carson said that in some bimanual tasks, such as opening a jar, the two hands were required to perform different activities.
'Musical performances provide many good examples of bimanual co-ordination,' he said.
'As anyone who learns to play the piano can attest, it can be very difficult to perform different movement patterns with two hands. This is because the two hands do not move independently of one another, rather, they interact.'
Dr Carson said while scientists had extensively examined this interaction at a behavioural level, the current research collaboration was novel in combining formal mathematical models with neuro-physiological approaches.
'Mathematical models suggest new directions for studying the central nervous system processes that are involved in the co-ordination of movement. This forms the basis of our current research,' he said.
Dr Carson said previous laboratory studies suggested that some patterns of rhythmic co-ordination were inherently less stable than others.
'Our recent research has indicated that there is greater activity in some areas of the motor cortex during these less stable movements,' he said.
'When the tempo of these movements is increased, sudden switches to more stable patterns are observed.
'One can use the analogy of the different gaits of a horse. Horses walk at a certain speed, trot at a higher speed, and then gallop as the speed of movement is further increased. It is simply not possible to trot, or indeed to walk, at a very high speed.'
Dr Peper said such transitions between co-ordination patterns could be understood on the basis of mathematical models in which the limbs were regarded as coupled oscillators.
'From physics we know that if oscillators interact with one another they are attracted to particular stable patterns,' she said.
'The nervous system appears to apply the same organisational principles to stabilise co-ordination patterns.'
Belfast-born Dr Carson graduated bachelor of science at the University of Bristol in 1985 before undertaking a master of science and a PhD at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia. He joined the University of Queensland in 1993, and was awarded a UQ fellowship in 1994. Dr Carson is currently funded by an Australian Research Council project grant.
Dr Carson met Dr Peper at a conference in 1995. Since that time they have maintained regular contact, discussing the problem of bimanual co-ordination from their slightly different perspectives. Dr Peper was awarded a doctorandus (equivalent of a master of science) from the Free University in 1990 and a PhD cum laude in 1995.
She visited the University of Queensland for seven weeks in May and June to conduct collaborative research projects with Dr Carson. The trip was funded by the Royal Academy in Netherlands and the Australian Academy of Social Sciences.
For further information, contact Dr Carson, telephone 3365 6817, email: richard@hms.uq.edu.au, or Dr Peper, email: c_e_peper@fbw.vu.nl
