Project Coordinator: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Mert Ankaralı
Project Type: TÜSEB Group B R&D Project Support Program
Project Budget: 2.732.800 TL
Project Duration: 24 Months
Project Start Date:
Funded Personnel:
Many motor behaviors in humans, including postural control of standing and walking, are the result of the dynamics of a closed-loop system. Stimulation of muscles by the nervous system causes movement of the body, movement of the body stimulates sensory systems, and the nervous system alters muscle activation in response. From a control theory perspective, these closed-loop systems in humans can be divided into the system model (plant) and the feedback. (Madhav et al. 2020). Operationally, the system model can be defined as a correlation from muscle activation to body movement. Here, muscle activation is measured by electromyographic (EMG) signals, while body movement is measured by kinematic variables (e.g., angles of body parts relative to each other). The model of the system depends on the dynamics of the muscle-tendon actuators, the dynamics of the body, and the interaction of the body with the environment. Feedback is defined as the correlation from kinematic variables to EMG signals. Feedback depends on various sensory systems (e.g., proprioception, vision, and the vestibular system) and the nervous system. A block diagram of the mentioned closed-loop system can be seen in Figure 1. This framework, based on control theory, offers a robust approach to decomposing and modeling the biomechanical and neural underpinnings of dynamic behaviors.
Figure 1. Movement-Neural Control Schematic