ArticleExperimental brain research2018
The speed-curvature power law of movements: a reappraisal.
Article in Experimental brain research, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- The relationship between speed and curvature differs in autistic and non-autistic tracing movements.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Spatiomotor dynamics of hand movements during the drawing of memory-guided trajectories without visual feedback.Journal of neurophysiology · 2025Article
- Biological kinematics: a detailed review of the velocity-curvature power law calculation.Experimental brain research · 2025Review
- Brain's geometries for movements and beauty judgments. A contribution of topos geometries.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Article
- Different sensory information is used for state estimation when stationary or moving.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Article
- High mirror symmetry in mouse exploratory behavior.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2024Article
- The effect of the preferred hand on drawing movement.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- A novel tablet-based motor coordination test performs on par with the Beery VMI subtest and offers superior temporal metrics: findings from children with pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome.Experimental brain research · 2023Article
- Article
- Role of path information in visual perception of joint stiffness.PLoS computational biology · 2022Article
- Dynamic Primitives Limit Human Force Regulation during Motion.IEEE robotics and automation letters · 2022Article
- Separating neural influences from peripheral mechanics: the speed-curvature relation in mechanically constrained actions.Journal of neurophysiology · 2020Article
- Modulation of ellipses drawing by sonification.Experimental brain research · 2020Article
- Do bumblebees have signatures? Demonstrating the existence of a speed-curvature power law in Bombus terrestris locomotion patterns.PloS one · 2020Article
- Bioinspired Implementation and Assessment of a Remote-Controlled Robot.Applied bionics and biomechanics · 2019Article
- Article
- Comments on Marken and Shaffer: The power law of movement: an example of a behavioral illusion.Experimental brain research · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Several types of curvilinear movements obey approximately the so called 2/3 power law, according to which the angular speed varies proportionally to the 2/3 power of the curvature. The origin of the law is debated but it is generally thought to depend on physiological mechanisms. However, a recent paper (Marken and Shaffer, Exp Brain Res 88:685-690, 2017) claims that this power law is simply a statistical artifact, being a mathematical consequence of the way speed and curvature are calculated. Here we reject this hypothesis by showing that the speed-curvature power law of biological movements is non-trivial. First, we confirm that the power exponent varies with the shape of human drawing movements and with environmental factors. Second, we report experimental data from Drosophila larvae demonstrating that the power law does not depend on how curvature is calculated. Third, we prove that the law can be violated by means of several mathematical and physical examples. Finally, we discuss biological constraints that may underlie speed-curvature power laws discovered in empirical studies.
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Registered trials
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