Motor control is decision-making.
Motor behavior may be viewed as a problem of maximizing the utility of movement outcome in the face of sensory, motor and task uncertainty. Viewed in this way, and allowing for the availability of prior knowledge in the form of a probability distribution over possible states of the world, the choice of a movement plan and strategy for motor control becomes an application of statistical decision theory. This point of view has proven successful in recent years in accounting for movement under risk, inferring the loss function used in motor tasks, and explaining motor behavior in a wide variety of circumstances.
Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, United Kingdom.
Daniel M
DM
Wolpert
Michael S
MS
Landy
D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D004525:Efferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*