Claims for Effector Independence and Generalized Motor      Programs:  Evidence from Handwriting
{'Code': '04040500', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'SBE', 'LongName': 'Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'BCS', 'LongName': 'Division Of Behavioral and Cognitive Sci'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Jasmine Young', 'PO_EMAI': 'jyoung@nsf.gov', 'PO_PHON': '7032924833'}
Human movements, from the simplest pointing movement to more                    elaborate multi-gesture movements, follow directions contained in               pre-existing mental plans, often called motor programs.  Although               we are seldom aware of the existence of such programs, their                    purpose is to structure commands to the muscles so that movements               can be made with minimal reliance on slow, feedback-based, error-               correcting processes.  While there is general agreement on this                 point, the structure of motor programs is far from clear.                                                                                                       Motor control theorists have speculated that motor programs can                 be generalized.  This idea, which stems from an analogy to                      subprograms in computer programming, suggests that motor programs               in memory have formal parameters that are replaced with actual,                 situation-specific values when a movement is about to be made.                  This research will explore the empirical reality of motor-program               generalization as well as the implications of various proposals                 describing how such generalizations might be implemented.  These                issues will be addressed in the domains of handwriting and                      drawing movements.                                                                                                                                              While this research will investigate motor program generalization               across several movement parameters, e.g., movement speed or size,               special emphasis will be given to a particular form of motor-                   program generalization known as effector independence.  This term               describes the ability of a single motor program to drive any of                 several effector systems to produce movement associated with that               program.  Effector independence is claimed to draw empirical                    support from several informal comparisons of the shapes of words                written using only the wrist and fingers versus those same words                written with the whole arm, as on a chalkboard.  In this context,               different effector systems might include the right hand, the left               hand, the whole right arm, or even a foot.  It is this diversity                of the movement systems involved, with their different joint                    configurations, muscle systems, and types of nerve innervation,                 that makes the claim of effector independence so tantalizing.                                                                                                   This research will proceed along two lines.  The first will                     examine, for previously learned movements, the disruptive effects               on the movement's shape, timing, force, and velocity caused by                  manipulating a number of aspects of the experimental situation.                 In the second line of research, people will learn novel movements               under one set of conditions, and their ability to transfer that                 learning to new conditions will be studied.                                                                                                                     The insights about the structure and function of motor programs                 gained from this research will have potential application to the                training of skills requiring coordinated movement, the diagnosis                and treatment of movement disorders, and the planning and                       representation of movements in robotic systems.
{'FirstName': 'Charles', 'LastName': 'Wright', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'E', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Charles E Wright', 'EmailAddress': 'cewright@uci.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000102969', 'StartDate': '08/15/1987', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'Columbia University', 'CityName': 'NEW YORK', 'ZipCode': '100277922', 'PhoneNumber': '2128546851', 'StreetAddress': '615 W 131ST ST', 'StreetAddress2': 'MC 8741', 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'New York', 'StateCode': 'NY', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '13', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'NY13', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'F4N1QNPB95M4', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': None}
{'Name': None, 'CityName': None, 'StateCode': None, 'ZipCode': None, 'StreetAddress': None, 'CountryCode': None, 'CountryName': None, 'StateName': None, 'CountryFlag': None, 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': None, 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_PERF': '""'}
{'Code': '118000', 'Text': 'HUMAN COGNITION & PERCEPTION'}
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1987&All=true', 'xml': '8711273.xml'}