Minimum principles in motor control

dMinimum (or minimal) principles are mathematical laws that were first used in physics: Hamilton's principle and Fermat's principle of least time are two famous example. In the past decade, a number of motor control theories have been proposed that are formally of the same kind as the minimum princi ples of physics, and some of these have been quite successful at predicting motor performance in a variety of tasks. The present paper provides a comp rehensive review of this work. Particular attention is given to the relatio n between minimum theories in motor control and those used in other discipl ines. Other issues around which the review is organized include: (1) the re lation between minimum principles and structural models of motor planning a nd motor control, (2) the empirically-driven development of minimum princip les and the danger of circular theorizing, and (3) the design of critical t ests for minimum theories. Some perspectives for future research are discus sed in the concluding section of the paper. (C) 2001 Academic Press.