ARE THERE COORDINATION INSTABILITIES IN THE WALK-TO-RUN TRANSITION? A CASE STUDY USING SELF-ORGANISING MAPS

Abstract

This study investigated multi-dimensional coordination instabilities in the transition between walking and running for a 26 year old female runner using self-organising maps (SOMs). We found different multi-dimensional coordination patterns for walking and running using the output from SOMs as stride trajectories on U-matrices and attractor diagrams. In the second experimental procedure, the participant showed clear transient multi-stability, or instability, at 8.2 km/h in the transition region for decreasing but not for increasing speeds; this is unlikely to be general across runners. She also showed increased multi-dimensional coordination variability around the transition region. SOMs provide us with a tool to study multi-dimensional coordination and to reduce its complexity to relatively simple map outputs.