TRAJECTORY FORMATION AND SPEED-ACCURACY TRADE-OFF IN AIMING MOVEMENTS

The trade-off between speed and accuracy and the patterning of movemen t kinematics have been ventral issues of theories of human movement fo r almost a century. In the present contribution experimentally obtaine d kinematics of reciprocal aiming movements, performed under different task conditions, are modelled as resulting from a single non-linear d ynamical system whose parameters vary so as to respond to the task dem ands. Providing a unified account of speed-accuracy trade-off and traj ectory formation phenomena, the model offers a theoretical framework i n which both discrete and continuous movements, performed along one or more dimensions can be understood. ((C) Academie des sciences/Elsevie r, Paris).