Factors that determine directional constraint in ipsilateral hand–foot coordinated movements

In performing simultaneous rhythmic movements of the ipsilateral hand and foot, there are differences in the level of stability between same directional (stable) and opposite directional (unstable) movements. This is the directional constraint. In this study, we investigated three factors (“interaction in efferent process,” “interaction of afferent signals,” and “error correction”) proposed to underlie for the directional constraint. We compared the performance of three tasks: (1) coordination of actively moved ipsilateral hand and foot, (2) active hand movement in coordination with passively moved foot, (3) active hand movement not coordinated with a passively moved foot. In each task, both same and opposite directional movements were executed. There was no difference between performance estimated with success rate for the first and second task. The directional constraint appeared in both tasks. Thus, the interaction in efferent processes, which was shown to be responsible for the directional constraint in bimanual coordination, was not involved with the directional constraint of ipsilateral hand–foot coordination. The directional constraint did not appear in the third task, which suggested that “interaction of afferent signals” also had no contribution. These results indicated that “error correction” must be the most critical of these factors for mediating the directional constraint in ipsilateral hand–foot coordinated movements.