How does the nervous system generate the complex patterns of muscle activity that subserve our everyday movements? I study arm and hand movement to understand the neural mechanisms of motor pattern generation. We record the neural activation of muscles and relate the patterns of activation to the type of movement performed. When a human subject reaches out to touch a target, the pattern of muscle activity depends on where the target is and how fast the subject reaches for it. When a person shapes the hand around an object, hand muscles are activated in a highly distributed manner.

Current projects in my laboratory include: 1) studies of arm and hand movement sequences, and 2) studies of the multidimensional recruitment patterns of single motor units.  In collaboration with Dr. John F. Soechting, I also study: 3) the process of manipulating objects with the hand, and 4) eye movement and hand-eye coordination.

The figure below: "Coarticulation in Fluent Fingerspelling" by Jerde, Soechting and Flanders