COORDINATING MOVEMENT AT 2 JOINTS - A PRINCIPLE OF LINEAR COVARIANCE

1. Six subjects performed fast, ''single-joint'' flexions of either th e elbow or shoulder over three angular distances in a sagittal plane. Movement endpoints were located to require flexion of only a single, ' 'focal'' joint, without any external, mechanical constraint on the oth er, ''nonfocal'' joint. Three subjects performed another series of mov ements between two targets while moving along different paths and in w hich both joints were flexed. 2. We compared the torque patterns that were produced at the two joints. For single-joint movements, they were both biphasic pulses that accelerated and then decelerated the limb. 3. The torque at the nonfocal joint of a single joint movement was ver y close to linearly proportional to that at the focal joint throughout the movement. Elbow and shoulder torques differed by a linear scaling constant and went through extrema and zero crossings almost simultane ously. 4. in contrast, during movements in which subjects were explici tly instructed to use a hand path they would not naturally use, the li near interjoint torque scaling rule did not apply. This demonstrated t hat when we wish to move along a path between two targets that is not produced by linear torque covariation, we are able to modify that rule at will. 5. We speculate that linear, dynamic covariation of the torq ue patterns across two joints may be an important principle for reduci ng the number of degrees of freedom that the nervous system must indep endently control in performing unconstrained limb movements over natur ally chosen paths.