Unintended interpersonal co-ordination: "can we march to the beat of our own drum?".

The main purpose of this article was to identify whether an interpersonal motor co-ordination emerges between two participants when they intentionally tried to not co-ordinate their movements between each other. To do this we conjointly examined both the emergence of the motor co-ordination (collective properties) between the two participants, and the maintenance of the individual intrinsic motor properties present in the interpersonal co-ordination. Six pairs of participants performed three situations where they freely moved their right forearm with no instructions (nor restrictions) on frequency or relative phase.

A practical guide to time-frequency analysis in the study of human motor behavior: the contribution of wavelet transform.

The authors present a practical guide for studying nonstationary data on human motor behavior in a time-frequency representation. They explain the limits of classical methods founded exclusively on the time or frequency basis and then answer those limits with the windowed Fourier transform and the wavelet transform (WT) methods, both of which are founded on time-frequency bases. The authors stress an interest in the WT method because it permits access to the whole complexity of a signal (in terms of time, frequency, amplitude, and phase).

Dynamics of the learning of a morphokinetic movement sequence in humans.

We studied the dynamics of the process through which subjects build a visuomotor representation in memory as they learn a morphokinetic movement sequence presented on videotape. It was hypothesized that recall accuracy is closely tied to the dynamics of the movement-representation process. When analyzed in the form of time series, recall performance should exhibit a deterministic inter-trial relationship reflecting the memorization activity.

Peer-Assisted Learning in the Physical Activity Domain: Dyad Type and Gender Differences.

The purposes of this study were to qualitatively analyze peer interaction in dyads practicing a swimming skill, and to examine the potential dyad type-by-gender differences in observed peer interaction modes. Sixty-four senior high school students (32 M, 32 F) trained for 8 min either in symmetrical (same competence) or asymmetrical (different competence levels) same-sex dyads. The numbers of attempts and performance scores were also documented for novices.

Factor analysis of quality of life, dyspnea, and physiologic variables in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease before and after rehabilitation.

Objective: To identify the relationships between quality of life (QOL) and the clinical state using factor analysis pre- and postrehabilitation. Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) suffer from a significant physiologic impairment associated with an altered QOL. Comprehensive rehabilitative programs, including exercise training, have beneficial effects on exercise tolerance and QOL for these patients.