creators_name: Konczak, Jürgen
editors_name: Berthouze, Luc
editors_name: Kaplan, Frédéric
editors_name: Kozima, Hideki
editors_name: Yano, Hiroyuki
editors_name: Konczak, Jürgen
editors_name: Metta, Giorgio
editors_name: Nadel, Jacqueline
editors_name: Sandini, Giulio
editors_name: Stojanov, Georgi
editors_name: Balkenius, Christian
type: confpaper
datestamp: 2006-07-23
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:56:28
metadata_visibility: show
title: On the notion of motor primitives in humans and robots
ispublished: pub
subjects: dev-psy
subjects: comp-sci-robot
full_text_status: public
keywords: motor primitives, infantile reflexes, infant motor development, developmental robot
abstract: This article reviews two reflexive motor patterns in
humans: Primitive reflexes and motor primitives. Both
terms coexist in the literature of motor development
and motor control, yet they are not synonyms. While
primitive reflexes are a part of the temporary motor
repertoire in early ontogeny, motor primitives refer to
sets of motor patterns that are considered basic units of
voluntary motor control thought to be present
throughout the life-span. The article provides an
overview of the anatomy and neurophysiology of
human reflexive motor patterns to elucidate that both
concepts are rooted in architecture of the spinal cord. I
will advocate that an understanding of the human
motor system that encompasses both primitive reflexes
and motor primitives as well as the interaction with
supraspinal motor centers will lead to an appreciation
of the richness of the human motor repertoire, which in
turn seems imperative for designing epigenetic robots
and highly adaptable human machine interfaces.
date: 2005
date_type: published
volume: 123
publisher: Lund University Cognitive Studies
pagerange: 47-53
refereed: TRUE
citation:   Konczak, Jürgen  (2005) On the notion of motor primitives in humans and robots.  [Conference Paper]     
document_url: http://cogprints.org/4963/1/konczak.pdf