Optimality principles in sensorimotor control (review)

摘要

The sensorimotor system is a product of evolution, development, learning, adaptation – processes that work on different time scales to improve behavioral performance. Consequenly, many theories of motor function are based on the notion of optimal performance: they quantify the task goals, and apply the sophisticated tools of optimal control theory to obtain detailed behavioral predictions. The resulting models, although not without limitations, has explained a wider range of empirical phenomena than any other class of models. Traditional emphasis has been on optimizing average trajectories while ignoring sensory feedback. Recent work has redefined optimality on the level of feedback control laws, and focused on the mechanisms that generate behavior online. This has made it possible to fit a number of previously unrelated concepts and observations into what may become a unified theoretical framework for interpreting motor function. At the heart of the framework is the relationship between high-level goals, and the realtime sensorimotor control strategies most suitable for accomplishing those goals.