Predicting Lip Acceleration from Electromyography

Abstract

Physiologists and psychologists who study motor control aim to understand how the brain controls movement. We know that waves of neural activation cascade down complex neural pathways to the motoneurons that activate muscle tissue, and that the contraction of these muscles applies forces to limbs. We know, too, from elementary physics that force is proportional to acceleration, and that if we study the acceleration of some body part, we are getting close to seeing how this remarkable control mechanism produces the movement that we see and feel.