FERNANDEZ Laure : Better understand and improve accuracy control : from fundamental to applied point of viewFERNANDEZ Laure

Summary: Achieving movements with accuracy despite the inevitable variability of the neuromuscular mechanisms is an important everyday life problem, which must be solved to produce any fine motor skill...

Summary: Achieving movements with accuracy despite the inevitable variability of the neuromuscular mechanisms is an important everyday life problem, which must be solved to produce any fine motor skill such as writing or pointing. To solve this problem when goal-directed movements have to be done as fast as possible, we systematically increase movement time when accuracy requirements increase, a ubiquitous phenomenon qualified as speed–accuracy trade-off.

The keypoints of the seminar will be to understand from a fundamental point of view where this trade-off comes from and what does the participants try to minimize in a movement constrained in speed and accuracy. I will address these questions, by relying on the postulates of two scientific domains, motor control and biomechanics,

A visuo-motor task with different accuracy constraints will be used as support to understand this fundamental trade-off in the domain of Human Movement Sciences. Three different studies will be presented in order to define if the origin of this trade-off is purely motor, or purely informational. The last study will investigate the degradation of this trade-off in the case of pathology (Parkinson disease) and how this trade-off evolves according to the treatment received. Some theoretical notions as the perception-action coupling as well as calibration process will be evocated. Finally, some applications of such fundamental studies will be presented.

Biography : Associate professor at Institut Sciences du mouvement in Marseille since 2009. Her teaching activity is carried out at the Sports Sciences Faculty. After a PhD conducted in Marseille under the supervision of Reinoud Bootsma, in the field of motor control, she did a 2 years post doc in Rome (Italy) in the laboratory directed by Francesco Lacquaniti. She tooks advantage of this post doc to develop some knowledge’s on muscular synergies. Since she is back in Marseille, her research focused on understanding the accuracy control with some theoretical postulates issues from the ecological approach of perception and action as well as the approach of non-linear dynamics systems with more applied studies on the last few years. More recently, she shifted to applied research in the field of understanding the cognitive process underlying sports injury or helping to conduct rehabilitation protocol.

Presentation : PDF