Autonomous Motion
Note: This department has relocated.

Bouncing a ball: Tuning into dynamic stability

2001

Article

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Rhythmically bouncing a ball with a racket was investigated and modeled with a nonlinear map. Model analyses provided a variable defining a dynamically stable solution that obviates computationally expensive corrections. Three experiments evaluated whether dynamic stability is optimized and what perceptual support is necessary for stable behavior. Two hypotheses were tested: (a) Performance is stable if racket acceleration is negative at impact, and (b) variability is lowest at an impact acceleration between -4 and -1 m/s2. In Experiment 1 participants performed the task, eyes open or closed, bouncing a ball confined to a 1-dimensional trajectory. Experiment 2 eliminated constraints on racket and ball trajectory. Experiment 3 excluded visual or haptic information. Movements were performed with negative racket accelerations in the range of highest stability. Performance with eyes closed was more variable, leaving acceleration unaffected. With haptic information, performance was more stable than with visual information alone.

Author(s): Sternad, D. and Duarte, M. and Katsumata, H. and Schaal, S.
Book Title: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance
Volume: 27
Number (issue): 5
Pages: 1163-1184
Year: 2001

Department(s): Autonomous Motion
Bibtex Type: Article (article)

Cross Ref: p1445
Note: clmc

BibTex

@article{Sternad_JEPHPP_2001,
  title = {Bouncing a ball: Tuning into dynamic stability},
  author = {Sternad, D. and Duarte, M. and Katsumata, H. and Schaal, S.},
  booktitle = {Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance},
  volume = {27},
  number = {5},
  pages = {1163-1184},
  year = {2001},
  note = {clmc},
  doi = {},
  crossref = {p1445}
}