ABSTRACT
The synchronizing of rhythmically moving limbs and limb segments is one of the most fundamental achievements of the human movement system. A complex system’s collective dynamics are relatively independent of the specific details of the internal and external interactions of its component subsystems. Establishing spatio-temporal relations among body segments is made possible by information about the states of muscles, limb segments, and limb attachments. This information is realized in the patterned activity of mechanoreceptors in response to distortions of the body’s tissues due to movement and environmental contacts. Despite age-related decrements in sensory structures, older adults showed no apparent deterioration in rhythmic coordination of homologous limbs at a self-selected pace. A more dramatic loss of sensitivity accompanies the clinical condition peripheral neuropathy, a functional deafferentation that accompanies certain diseases or injury. Individuals with neuropathy cannot feel anything touching the affected limb, nor can they feel the limb itself.
