Muscle Behavior May Solve Motor Coordination Problems

Like many biologic systems, one of the differentiating features of the head and neck is its mechanical intricacy. The head-neck system includes approximately thirty muscles; each spans multiple joints, and each joint has multiple degrees of freedom. The sensory system includes several radically different types of sensory organs. At first, this intricacy may seem tough, yet it must be confronted squarely if a deep comprehension of sensorymotor coordination is to be made. One aspect of sensory-motor coordination that is epitomized by the head-neck system is the general problem of coordinate transformations. The root of the problem is that several parts of the process of doing an action in response to sensory stimuli are each largely described in their own terms.