creators_name: Konczak, Jürgen
editors_name: Berthouze, Luc
editors_name: Kozima, Hideki
editors_name: Prince, Christopher G.
editors_name: Sandini, Giulio
editors_name: Stojanov, Georgi
editors_name: Metta, Giorgio
editors_name: Balkenius, Christian
type: confpaper
datestamp: 2005-04-14
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:55:50
metadata_visibility: show
title: Neural development and sensorimotor control
ispublished: pub
subjects: dev-psy
subjects: behav-neuro-sci
full_text_status: public
keywords: neural sensorimotor control development, inverse dynamics model, adaptive force control, neural plasticity
abstract: What is the relationship between development of the nervous system and the emergence of voluntary motor behavior? This is the central question of the nature-nurture discussion that has intrigued child psychologists and pediatric neurologists for decades. This paper attempts to revisit this issue. Recent empirical evidence on how infants acquire multi-joint coordination and how children learn to adapt to novel force environments will be discussed with reference to the underlying development of the nervous system. The claim will be made that the developing human nervous system by no means constitutes an ideal controller. However, its redundancy, its ability to integrate multi-modal sensory information and motor commands and its facility of time-critical neural plasticity are features that may prove to be useful for the design of adaptive robots.
date: 2004
date_type: published
volume: 117
publisher: Lund University Cognitive Studies
pagerange: 11-13
refereed: FALSE
citation:   Konczak, Jürgen  (2004) Neural development and sensorimotor control.  [Conference Paper]     
document_url: http://cogprints.org/4068/1/konczak.pdf